Hurricane Milton live tracker: Storm weakens to Category 2 after landfall on Florida coast; 1.3 million customers left without power

As Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, officials in Tampa breathed a sigh of relief that the potential storm surge might not prove as bad as initially forecast.

That’s because the right side of a storm making landfall from the west tends to pack a harder punch than the left, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported.

“The hurricane’s right side (relative to the direction it is travelling) is the most dangerous part of the storm because of the additive effect of the hurricane wind speed and speed of the larger atmospheric flow (the steering winds),” according to NSF Unidata, a University Corporation for Atmospheric Research program.

Storm chasers on the ground in towns south of Siesta Key, like Venice and Punta Gorda, posted dramatic videos of storm surge rushing in Wednesday night. Charlotte Harbor, where Punta Gorda is located, is expected to see 8-12 feet of surge before the storm pushes across the Florida Peninsula, the National Hurricane Center said.

Tampa, however, continues to be pounded with heavy rainfall, which could cause flash flooding.