Why Storm Surge Won’t Be Categorized for Hurricane Milton

As powerful Hurricane Milton nears the Florida coast, forecasters are carefully charting its winds on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. But there’s no easy way to categorize the storm surge that’s expected to ravage ocean-front communities.

Storm surge—the rise in seawater level caused solely by a storm—can bring dangerous floodwaters into coastal areas. Researchers found the phenomenon was responsible for 11% of direct hurricane-related deaths from 2013 to 2022.