Gerrard Kaonga
A meteorologist struggled to keep his emotions in check as he described the destructive power of Hurricane Milton.
TV meteorologist John Morales warned that climate change was driving the intense Hurricane Milton conditions, while describing the progressing storm.
While speaking on NBC on October 7, Morales became visibly upset. Take a look:
He said: “Incredible, incredible, incredible hurricane, it has dropped... it has dropped 50 millibars in 10 hours.
“I apologize, this is just horrific,” he said while fighting back tears.
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He continued: “Maximum sustained winds are 160mph and it is just gaining strength in the Gulf of Mexico where you can imagine the seas are just so incredibly hot.
“A record hot as you might imagine, you know what is driving that, I don’t need to tell you, global warming and climate change leading to this and becoming an increasing threat for the Yucatan, including Mérida and Progreso and other areas there.”
Morales was able to compose himself and went on to note that while the hurricane is set to weaken as it approaches Florida, it will still prove to be an impactful storm.
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He said: “Let’s transition to Florida because even though it is expected to weaken on approach, it is so incredibly strong right now that you are going to find it very difficult for it to be nothing less than a major hurricane when it makes landfall in Florida.
“Where it makes landfall is going to be crucial because there and south of there, there will be a very high storm surge which could be 12-feet deep.”
Government officials have also been emphasizing just how serious the storm is and asked people to take it seriously.
Tampa mayor Jane Castor spoke to CNN on Monday and said residents who are in a hurricane evacuation zone could be making a fateful error if they try and ride out the storm.
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She said: "I can tell you right now, that they may have done that with others but there has never been one like this. Helene was a wakeup call, this is literally catastrophic.
"I can say this without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die."
As of yesterday, the hurricane has progressed to the top category on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
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Category five can see winds at speeds of '157 mph or higher (252 km/h or higher)' with 'catastrophic damage' occurring.