Floridians buckle up ahead of Hurricane Milton

AccuWeather

Storm chaser Connor McCrorey reported live from Bradenton, Florida, on the evening of Oct. 8, where boats remained but most people had left to find safer shelter before Milton's arrival.

Transcript

00:00Our team coverage continues right now with Swim Chaser Connor McRory.

00:07He joins us live from Bradenton, Florida with the latest there.

00:12What are the latest preparations right now?

00:16Well, it seems like most people have pretty much completed their preparations around here.

00:20I think with as much warning time as these folks have been given and considering everything that

00:24they've dealt with over the last few weeks, months, years, it really does seem like people

00:29are taking this stuff seriously. I'm out here in downtown Bradenton right now,

00:33and you can see the marina behind me. I mean, it's just so dead. There's nobody out here.

00:37There are lots of boats. Those boats aren't going to fare very well when the storm comes in.

00:41I believe AccuWeather, the last time I checked, was forecasting over 15 feet of storm surge here

00:46in Bradenton with over 110 mile per hour winds. So hopefully all the residents here have taken

00:53the precautions to get themselves to safety, but unfortunately, we're still going to see

00:57plenty of property damage regardless. You know, Connor, you're right in that zone.

01:03You're in Bradenton, and we are concerned about some high, even record, maybe shattering storm

01:12surge in these areas, something that we haven't seen in over 100 years in a few of these zones.

01:17Can you just break down what the conditions are right now ahead of this storm and why it

01:22is so important? I know you said that most people have been evacuating, and that is great,

01:26but for any last stragglers on why you should be getting out now?

01:32Well, I mean, the Gulf of Mexico, the waters are so warm right now. I mean,

01:35we had Hurricane Helene move through just a couple of weeks ago, but

01:39that didn't do too much to damper the potential for intensification for hurricanes moving through

01:43the region. It's still in a relatively light, sheer environment. That's why we've been seeing,

01:47I mean, we saw such intense, rapid intensification yesterday, like I've almost never seen before in

01:54my 15 years of storm chasing. It's incredible, and we're just starting to feel the impacts here.

01:59I don't know if you can see behind me, but we are finally starting to see some light rain. It's been

02:03dry for the past couple of days, but as this rain sets in, as the winds begin to pick up overnight

02:08and into tomorrow, it's going to really start to set in just what's heading this way.

02:12Yeah, thank you so much for that update, Connor. Thank you so much for even pointing out that

02:18right now we're in that zone that we're starting to see the beginnings of what is to come. Thank

02:24you so much for joining us right now. I'm sure we're going to try to check back in with you here

02:30as we get closer and closer towards the event. For now, though, stay safe. Of course, take those precautions.

Category

Transcript

Recommended