Milton's storm surge leads to major flooding in Punta Gorda

Storm chaser Aaron Jayjack reported from rising floodwater in Punta Gorda, Florida, as Hurricane Milton slammed into the Florida coast

Transcript

00:00I'm here at Puta Gorda, Florida, where the storm surge has started to spill into the streets of downtown Puta Gorda.

00:08As you can see here, we're well away from the coast, about 500 yards or so from the coast, 300 yards off in this direction.

00:16The water is making its way through the town, coming down through the streets.

00:20In fact, we were down on the coast just a little while ago.

00:23So, watching the water come up over the seawall, thought we were okay to get back to the hotel,

00:28because we had just checked our route back to our hotel moments earlier.

00:32And then, by the time we came back, about 30 minutes later, there was about two or three feet of water in this intersection back behind us.

00:39Unfortunately, with a high-clearance vehicle, we were able to get through that water.

00:43But now the water is rising, and it will likely surround our hotel here.

00:49The hotel back behind us is at a higher elevation.

00:53Many cars parked up there, but all around us are floodwaters on all sides.

00:59As Milton is, bowing away from making landfall, getting hit by sustained tropical storm force winds here,

01:06as we are a little bit further south, away from the eyewall, not in the actual eye of the hurricane,

01:12targeting this storm surge here, possibly 10 to 15 foot of surge in this area and points to the north, up towards Tampa.

01:20For AccuWeather, I'm Aaron Jajak, reporting from Punta Gorda, Florida.