Update as of 8:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024: Hurricane Milton has made landfall as a Category 3 storm near Siesta Key, Florida. Click here for continuing coverage of Hurricane Milton. __________TAMPA – Hurricane Milton nearing landfall along Florida’s Gulf Coast late Wednesday night, but a potentially deadly storm surge from the monster Category 3 hurricane is already inundating shores after outer bands spawned a massive tornado outbreak.Conditions deteriorated on Wednesday evening as the hurricane continued its potentially life-threatening assault on the Sunshine State.Hurricane-force winds are blasting the west coast of Florida as the outer bands have prompted more than 100 Tornado Warnings across Central and South Florida. Power outages reached nearly 640,000 before the hurricane made landfall. Flooding was reported around Tampa Bay, according to Florida State Patrol troopers. “The northern eyewall of Hurricane Milton is beginning to move onshore of the Florida Gulf Coast near Tampa and St. Petersburg where an Extreme Wind Warning is now in effect,” the National Hurricane Center said. “Please shelter in place as these extremely dangerous hurricane-force winds overspread the region.”According to the NHC, Milton is growing in size as it approaches the west coast of Florida. Landfall is expected sometime Wednesday night as the storm has picked up speed and the NHC is forecasting an earlier arrival. The landfall is forecast to happen on the Gulf Coast between Venice and Tampa Bay.TRACKING HURRICANE MILTON: FORECAST CONE, SPAGHETTI MODELS, LIVE RADAR AND MOREAccording to the Florida Department of Transportation, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in St. Petersburg was closed in both directions due to the deteriorating conditions. Officials also said the Howard Frankland Bridge, the westbound Gandy Bridge and westbound Courtney Campbell were also closed to traffic.Across the region, emergency services were suspended or significantly delayed because of extreme winds. Emergency services in Sarasota were suspended around 6:30 p.m. when winds became too high for first responders to respond to calls for service. North of Tampa, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office said rescue operations were slowed, but citizens could still call 911.”You need to shelter in place. If you need help, we cannot respond,” the Sarasota Police Department wrote on X. “Please do not venture out and put your life in danger.”HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHERMore than 130 Tornado Warnings have been issued across Central and South Florida as Hurricane Milton’s powerful outer bands found an atmosphere ripe for tornadic development.MILTON’S LIKELY RECORD-BREAKING STORM SURGE IN TAMPA BAY COULD SURPASS ANYTHING SEEN IN OVER A CENTURYStunning videos from Florida Department of Transportation cameras along Interstate 75 in Alligator Alley between Broward and Palm Beach counties captured the destructive force of Milton’s extreme weather in the state. FOX Weather Correspondent Brandy Campbell happened upon tornado damage in Fort Myers.Significant tornado damage was also reported on Florida’s east coast as a tornado destroyed a facility at the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office.No deputies were reported injured during the twister.WATCH: TORNADO OUTBREAK SPAWNS FROM HURRICANE MILTON AS FUNNEL CLOUDS SWIRL IN SOUTH FLORIDAThe National Weather Service office in Miami had issued more than 50 Tornado Warnings as of Wednesday afternoon, breaking its record for the most issued in a single day. The previous record was set during an outbreak from Hurricane Ian two years ago. The SPC says as Milton’s rain bands continue to flow into Florida, supercell thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes, including strong tornadoes (EF-2 or higher), are likely to continue to develop.DOWNLOAD THE FREE FOX WEATHER APPStorm surge forecasts along the central western coast are predicting up to 13 feet of water topped with devastating waves driven by hurricane-force winds. Those levels — significantly higher than the damage wrought just last month by Hurricane Helene – would surpass anything seen in over a century in the Tampa Bay area.By Wednesday afternoon, several feet of storm surge had already reached the shores of Fort Myers and Naples. “Yes, you might have ‘been through hurricanes before,'” FOX Weather Hurricane Specialist Bryan Norcross said. “But you weren’t through the 1921 storm that put water over much of Pinellas County, or the 1848 hurricane that put 15 feet of Gulf water where downtown Tampa is today.”The NHC has lowered the forecast storm surge levels in Tampa Bay, but with the current storm surge forecast of 6-9 feet, the destruction could be catastrophic if that comes to fruition. Charlotte Harbor is also forecast to see a storm surge of up to 12 feet.On the state’s east coast, a storm surge of up to 5 feet is possible from Sebastian Inlet northward to the Florida-Georgia state line.But even after landfall, damaging winds are expected to track across the central Florida Peninsula.Aside from the life-threatening storm surge, Milton is forecast to bring wind speeds well over 100 mph around the eyewall where the hurricane makes landfall. That includes the Tampa area, which has potential wind gusts over 95 mph or more at landfall.Milton is forecast to maintain hurricane strength even through its trek toward the state’s Atlantic coast, with Hurricane Warnings covering 11 million, including the Orlando area and along the east coast from the St. Lucie/Martin County Line northward to Ponte Vedra Beach.Storm surge will also be felt along the Atlantic coast of Florida from the Space Coast to the First Coast. This includes cities such as Daytona Beach, St. Augustine and Jacksonville Beach. Rainfall totals will reach 8-12 inches along Milton’s path, with isolated totals reaching 18 inches. And Milton will present a threat of several tornadoes even ahead of landfall.As of the latest advisory from the NHC, Hurricane Milton is located less than 35 miles southwest of Sarasota and 140 miles southwest of Orlando. Milton is moving off to the northeast at 15 mph.Hurricane Milton remains a powerful Category 3 hurricane with winds of 120 mph, and the storm is expected to remain a major hurricane when it makes landfall.Milton is expected to turn toward the east-northeast on Thursday and Friday, tracking along the Florida peninsula overnight Wednesday and early Thursday before it moves off the east coast of Florida into the Atlantic Ocean.