Major hurricane Milton is making landfall in Florida tonight on the heels of the destructive hurricane Helene, which ravaged parts of the southeast in late September. Aside from destructive winds and flooding rains, Milton is also set to bring catastrophic storm surge along a large swath of Florida's west coast. News-Press NOW took a look at how the storm surge from Hurricane Milton, which could reach up to 13 feet, would look near the Missouri River.
St. Joseph is no stranger to flooding along the mighty Missouri, which periodically bursts it's banks due to periods of heavy rain, excessive snowmelt, or a combination of both. Unlike fluvial flooding of creeks, rivers, and streams due to precipitation, storm surge within a major hurricane comes straight from the ocean.
Brought on by the expansive wind-field within a hurricane, storm surge is literally a rise in ocean levels that rapidly pushes inland along coastal areas. Once water levels rise, wave action and white caps are common within the surge, as violent winds agitate the salt water inundation. According to latest forecasts from the National Hurricane Center, storm surge along the west coast of Florida is forecast to reach as high as 13 feet from the southern end of Tampa Bay to Boca Grande.
This volume of water is enough to submerge the first floor of most homes and businesses, potentially reaching the second floor of some structures. If flooding of this magnitude was to happen at St. Josephs Frontier Casino along the M.