The streets of Punta Gorda, Florida, were littered with storm surge debris left behind by Hurricane Milton on Oct. 10. Storm chaser Mike Scantlin is in the area surveying the extent of the damage.

Punta Gorda

Hurricane Milton has made landfall as a Category Three system, causing tornadoes and widespread damage across parts of Florida.

Hurricane Milton

The streets of Punta Gorda, Florida, are suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, which has left a trail of devastation. The storm brought a significant storm surge, reaching up to 10 feet in areas like Gilchrist Park near the Peace River. Buildings such as the Bayfront YMCA Center, already abandoned due to past hurricanes, have now been completely gutted, with roof panels and windows missing. 

The neighborhood close to the park witnessed water entering homes, echoing the damage it suffered just a fortnight ago with Hurricane Helene. The surge from Milton exceeded that of Helene by about two or three feet. Meanwhile, storm chaser Mike Scantlin is on the scene documenting the widespread debris, including boats littered across the park. 

Comparisons are being drawn with Hurricane Ian, which hit two years ago but caused less surge in the same area. Ian's impact was mitigated by strong offshore winds that prevented significant surge, unlike Milton which brought devastating onshore flows.



Milton leaves behind widespread damage in Florida

Yesterday evening, right as things started to deteriorate, I was standing in the same spot here at about 6 p.m. And you can see the water here up against the seawall is about four feet lower than it was when it started coming over yesterday. We're at about the same point in the tide cycle, so I'm going to call it an even four feet higher than it was. And I talked about this YMCA building here that has been abandoned because of the damage from Hurricane Ian. Now, there was no surge damage here yesterday, but there were some roof panels missing. Just a few hours after we did that live shot, the water came up. It looks like it was at least five feet deep right here and gutted what was left of the Bayfront YMCA Center here in Gilchrist Park, along the Peace River, where the Peace River meets Charlotte Harbor here. So this building was already abandoned, but it has now been gutted. More roof panels missing. All these front windows are missing and side windows are missing. And we're going to pan around and show you the rest of this park is littered with boats and debris. And, you know, we definitely reached at least a 10-foot storm surge here at Gilchrist Park in Punta Gorda. And then, unfortunately, the neighborhood right here, just beyond the park, many homes had water up and into the homes, and they also had water up and into the home just about two weeks ago with Hurricane Helene. This storm surge is a little bit more than Hurricane Helene, probably two or three feet higher, but about the same amount of reach here in this neighborhood. We're going to continue scouring the area for more damage for you guys. And I got some drone video coming up of this whole park just littered with big boats and people out checking it out. Mike, you talked about that building being damaged by Ian. I'm curious, and you might not know the answer to this, what was the storm surge like with Ian? Obviously, Helene, this is worse than Helene for that particular spot. Do we know what that was like there with Ian? Oh, absolutely. Me and Bill Waddell intercepted Hurricane Ian just right here at this hotel, right on this corner here. So we did not actually get a storm surge with Hurricane Ian two years ago, maybe just a couple of feet, but it was not up and into this park. The storm surge actually went out because we had the really strong offshore flow winds. So we were seeing mud here in the harbor instead of a storm surge just because the position we had in that front eyewall. And then once it passed, we got more onshore flow, but it was much weaker. We might have had water up and into this park, but not much storm surge in this area from Ian. Definitely not anything close to what we saw with Helene or with Hurricane Milton last night. Mike Scantling, we appreciate your reporting. Also, your sharp memory of what you were dealing with in Ian. You've chased so many storms and hurricanes, so probably sometimes hard to keep them straight. But excellent information, and we'll be checking back in with you shortly.

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Hurricane Milton