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    Hurricane Milton’s Storm Surge Threatens Dangerous Flooding in Florida

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    Storm surge along the western Florida coast began to pick up as daylight dwindled and Hurricane Milton came ashore with its heavy rains and damaging winds, bringing the threat of major flooding.Flood gauges showed rapidly rising water levels on the coast at Fort Myers and Naples Bay shortly after Milton’s center arrived on land near Sarasota. Forecasters warned of the life threatening surge, which was expected to reach up to 13 feet in some areas, like Boca Grande on the far edges of the western coast.The term storm surge describes the dramatic, higher-than-expected rise in water levels brought on by a storm, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.“The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline,” forecasters had earlier warned.In Tampa Bay, officials issued a flash flood emergency, a rare alert used when flooding is expected to inflict catastrophic damage and pose a severe threat to human life.Storm surge has been a particular point of emphasis with this hurricane among officials as it’s been responsible for dozens of deaths in storms past. In 2022, for example, 41 deaths during Hurricane Ian were attributed to storm surge.Images on social media taken before Milton’s arrival showed signs of the deluge to come, with water beginning to lap over sidewalks and roadways. Some videos showed the light from buildings reflecting brightly off the water against the darkness of night as it rushed over streets and into buildings. More

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      Riding Out the Storm Means Making New Friends in the Hotel Lobby

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      The humble hotel lobby has become a gathering place for some evacuees as Hurricane Milton bears down on Florida. It’s a spot where people can exchange information — such as which gas stations still have fuel or where to find a hot meal — and stay informed with storm updates. For some, it’s also a place to connect, with the shared uncertainty fostering moments of camaraderie.“We’re all in the same boat, and the boat is flooding,” said Chris Granson Sr., 74, who evacuated from a barrier island off the coast of Clearwater, Fla., to the Holiday Inn Express & Suites here in Wesley Chapel, about 30 minutes north of downtown Tampa.Across the lobby from Mr. Granson, four friends from a senior community in Oldsmar, Fla., discussed politics and planned their next meal while watching the weather updates on TV. (Another guest advised them that a nearby 7-Eleven was still open.)They said they were part of a larger group at the community known as the Hippo Club, named so because its members enjoy “wallowing” in the pool while chatting about everything under the sun. For these four, the hurricane has temporarily relocated their club — and possibly added a few honorary members.“We’ve met people from all up and down the coast,” said Gayle Richardson, 66.Nearby, four women split Champagne and chocolates while playing a card game, including Laurie Deer, 56, who left lollipops at the front desk for the other guests, and Rosemary O’Hara, 69.Two of the women’s husbands joined them. Tom O’Hara, 77, who was affectionately called Mr. Positive by the others, confidently predicted that the storm would shift south, sparing their homes.“We’re laughing and bonding, trying not to watch too much news,” said Ms. O’Hara. “We know something bad is happening out there, and we’ll face it when we return. But, for now, we’re focusing on what matters.” More

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      What to Expect From Helene as It Moves North

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      As Helene thrashes the Florida Panhandle with “unsurvivable” storm surge and “catastrophic” winds Thursday evening, people across the Southeast were bracing for the storm’s arrival in their region in the coming hours and days.The worst was expected to hit in the late evening and overnight in the Big Bend of Florida, including Tallahassee. Here’s a look at the next few days.Friday: The storm quickly follows Interstate 75 north out of Florida.The storm is expected to move very quickly overnight, reaching north Georgia by Friday morning, and the worst will be quickly over in Florida. But this storm’s quick pace will mean the core of its most intense winds could extend all the way to near the Atlanta metro area.Because of the vast size of Helene, the tropical storm-force wind gusts are also likely across Georgia and the Carolinas late Thursday and into the day Friday, particularly over the higher terrain of the southern Appalachians.Even worse is the heavy tropical rainfall tied up in the storm, which will push further into the Appalachian Mountains, where the National Weather Service has warned the storm will be one of the most significant “in the modern era.”For the third day in a row, from foothills in Atlanta to mountains in Asheville, where rivers and creeks are already pushed to the brim, even more extreme rain is expected to fall on Friday.The combination of the wind and the wet soil will make it much easier for trees to fall. And it makes the rough terrain susceptible to landslides.As Helene moves north, it will begin to spin around another storm system, which will make it turn left over Tennessee.This weekend: The remnants of the storm will lingerRain will fall across central Kentucky and Tennessee eastward to the central Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic region the remnants of Helene combine with another weather system.This rainfall could result in more flooding as the rains persist through Monday. More

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      On Hawaii’s Big Island, Hurricane Hone Brings Heavy Rain but No Major Damage

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      More than 20,000 customers were without power by Sunday afternoon, but neither the winds nor the flooding from the storm were dramatic.Hurricane Hone passed within 60 miles of Hawaii’s Big Island early Sunday, bringing heavy rain, knocking out power to thousands of customers and snapping native ohia trees like twigs.More than 20,000 customers were without electricity on Sunday afternoon on the island, which has a population of about 206,000. But Mitch Roth, the mayor of Hawaii County, which covers the Big Island, said there were no reports of injuries or major damage.Kazuo Todd, the fire chief for Hawaii County, said that nearly 18 inches of rain had fallen around the volcanoes in the southern part the island. But so far, neither the winds nor the flooding had been dramatic.“We do live on an island in the Pacific where the water can drain off into the ocean relatively quickly,” Chief Todd said.Forecasters predicted that Hone, which was a Category 1 storm as it was spinning westward below the islands on Sunday, could still bring up to 20 inches of rain to some areas. As the storm moves, it will slow down and push moisture over all the islands, increasing the potential for heavy rainfall statewide and the threat of flash flooding in some areas.Floodwaters flow through a soccer complex in Hilo, Hawaii, as a result of heavy rains.Bruce Omori for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Several Tornadoes Reported as Storm Moves Through Chicago Area

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      More than 13 million people were under tornado warning or watch alerts on Monday night in Chicago, and parts of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.Multiple tornadoes were reported in the Midwest as thunderstorms battered the region on Monday. More than 13 million people were still under tornado warning or watch alerts.A line of “destructive thunderstorms” was moving through northeastern Illinois, including Chicago, on Monday night, and several tornadoes had been reported, the National Weather Service’s Chicago bureau said. It added that the agency’s staff had to briefly seek shelter from a tornado.Just before 9 p.m., the agency reported a tornado near Sugar Grove, about 40 miles west of Chicago, that was confirmed by radar.The storms would soon move east into northwestern Indiana, the Weather Service said.A tornado warning was in place for parts of DuPage, Lake and Cook counties in northeastern Illinois, which included O’Hare Airport, until 10 p.m., with the Weather Service warning of flying debris and likely damage to mobile homes, roofs, windows and vehicles.A tornado watch alert was in place until 1 a.m. on Tuesday for parts of Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana.This is a developing story. More

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      Storm Damages Homes in Washington Suburbs Amid Tornado Warnings

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      A handful of injuries were reported in Gaithersburg, Md., a suburb of the nation’s capital. Baltimore is also under a tornado warning and flood watch.A storm swept through the suburbs of Washington, D.C. on Wednesday evening amid tornado warnings, damaging a few homes in Gaithersburg, Md., and injuring a handful of people, officials said.Officials advised people to take cover in Montgomery County in Maryland after the National Weather Service office in Washington issued a tornado warning and called it a “particularly dangerous situation.”“We believe there were multiple tornadoes,” said Pete Piringer, a spokesman for the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service.Tornadoes in the EastLocations of tornado sightings or damage reported by trained spotters. More

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      East Texas, Already Soaked, Prepares for a ‘Nightmare Scenario’ of More Rain

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      Some places in Texas have seen a year’s worth of rainfall since January.In a densely forested region of East Texas called the Piney Woods, rivers are still in moderate to major flood stage after recent weeks of heavy rainfall. Now, the region is preparing for what forecasters are calling a “nightmare scenario” with another round of excessive rain, which could lead to more considerable flooding on Thursday into Friday morning.“It’s just an insane amount of rain,” said Jimmy Fowler, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Houston, “that just seems to keep falling over the same area.”This week’s forecast calls for an additional three to five inches of rain in the same part of Texas, southeast of Dallas and northeast of Houston, where “considerable rainfall amounts have occurred this month,” forecasters said.“Over the last 14 days, portions of eastern Texas have received five to 10 inches of rain, with localized amounts as high as 15 to 20 inches,” Marc Chenard, a senior forecaster with the Weather Prediction Center, an arm of the National Weather Service, said Tuesday afternoon. “This is 400 to 600 percent the normal rain for this two-week period.”

      Where streams and rivers flooded

      Minor

      Moderate

      Major

      Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
      Notes:

       Minor flooding is defined as causing minimal or no property damage.
      Moderate flooding
      could lead to inundation of structures and roads, causing some evacuations.
      Major flooding could lead to extensive inundation of structures and roads, causing
      significant evacuations.
      By Bea Malsky

      This week, some isolated areas could see six to 10 more inches, Mr. Chenard added. And it will fall on saturated ground. Since January, some towns, like Huntsville, Texas, have already exceeded the 51 inches of rainfall they would typically receive in an entire year.While some of the river gauges that are in flood stage now are still short of the record-high levels seen during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, the past few weeks have been a compounding onslaught of heavy rainfall, especially across the Piney Woods region, Mr. Fowler said.Because the ground is so saturated, Mr. Fowler said, it would most likely only take a storm producing one to three inches of rain in an hour to cause flash flooding.Wednesday is supposed to be relatively dry, but it won’t be enough time to dry out the ground before Thursday’s rain. If anything, the water that evaporates will just add to the moisture in the air, helping fuel the rainfall on Thursday.Forecasters with the Weather Prediction Center warned that if the forecast computer weather models continued to show the “bullseye” of excessive rain lingering over the already flooded region, then they would most likely increase the probability of flash flooding to a higher level.Confidence is high among forecasters that rain will drench the region again Thursday. However, there were a few outliers in the computer models Wednesday that showed the rain farther north, which would be good news for the waterlogged Piney Woods.The flood concern will move east across the South as the multiple waves of storms move over Louisiana from Thursday into Friday. By the start of the weekend, East Texas may begin to dry out, but rounds of rain will pound Southern Mississippi and Alabama, which have also been stuck in a similar rainy pattern recently. More

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      Tornado Destroys Homes, Kills at Least One in Kansas

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      A powerful tornado ripped through a community in northeastern Kansas on Tuesday afternoon, destroying dozens of homes and structures and killing at least one person, officials said.A powerful tornado shredded homes and killed at least one person in a small Kansas town on Tuesday, as severe weather threatened millions of people across the region.The tornado hit Westmoreland, a community of about 700, roughly 100 miles west of Kansas City, at about 4:40 p.m., Pottawatomie County officials said.The storm left at least one person dead, destroyed at least 22 homes and damaged another 13, according to Vivienne Leyva, a public information officer for nearby Riley County. Additionally, four commercial buildings were destroyed and another was damaged, Ms. Leyva said.Westmoreland was the only community struck by the tornado, she added. The destruction came amid a night of severe weather across the Central United States. More than four million people were under a severe thunderstorm or tornado watch Tuesday night, according to the National Weather Service. More

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      California Highway 1 Collapse Leaves 2,000 Tourists Stranded

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      Many stayed in temporary shelters, hotels and campgrounds overnight on Saturday, while some slept in their cars. A portion of scenic Highway 1 in the Big Sur area of California collapsed Saturday stranding about 2,000 motorists, mostly tourists, overnight.Officials with the California Department of Transportation said on Sunday that a section of the southbound highway located in the Central Coast, would remain closed to the public while crews worked on the affected areas. Large chunks of the road fell into the ocean. The highway, also known as the Pacific Coast Highway, features stretches of rocky cliffs, lush mountains, panoramic beaches and coastal redwood forests.There were no reported injuries. Caltrans, the agency, did not give an estimate of when it expected to fully reopen the highway. Officials did not say what led to the collapse, but torrential rain battered the area near Rocky Creek Bridge, which is about 17 miles south of Monterey. Kevin Drabinski, a spokesman for Caltrans, said the officials determined that the damage was severe enough to close the highway for motorists Saturday afternoon.“Caltrans became aware that we had lost portion of the southbound lane and that necessitated a full closure of Highway 1,” Mr. Drabinski said. We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More