English Bulldog Puppies for Sale in Fort Lauderdale, FL

Kimberly Miller

The National Hurricane Center is forecasting that a major Category 3 hurricane will hit a battered Florida Gulf Coast midweek, a tripling of misery for a region that has already suffered two hurricane landfalls this season.

An advisory issued at 5 p.m.. Saturday on newly formed Tropical Storm Milton says the tropical cyclone is 245 miles north of Veracruz, Mexico, in the simmering southwestern Gulf of Mexico and moving north-northeast at a dawdling 3 mph. Its maximum sustained wind speeds were 40 mph.

Rapid strengthening is expected as the system moves across the central and eastern part of the Gulf with a hurricane forming Monday or Tuesday before more deepening will take it to a Category 3 storm with estimated 115 mph winds ahead of a Wednesday landfall.

While NHC's intensity forecast tops out at a Category 3 hurricane, some models are more bullish on the storm's future ferocity and the 5 p.m. advisory noted that "upward adjustments could be required."

"I'm not an alarmist, it takes a lot to get my attention. This has it," said Jeff Berardelli, a meteorologist for Tampa-area News Channel 8 in a social media post.

Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency Saturday in 35 counties ahead of the storm, including Palm Beach County, the Treasure Coast and Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.

Forecast track models are in consistent agreement for now that the storm will make landfall somewhere between Naples and Cedar Key with the forecast cone issued Saturday by the NHC swallowing the entire Florida peninsula. The average 4-day forecast error is 150 miles, roughly the distance between Naples and Tampa.

More:2024 hurricane season: Yes, we had Debby and Helene, but October is Florida's peak season

For Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, the National Weather Service continues to forecast the potential for heavy rainfall of up to 10 to 12 inches through Oct. 12, but cautions that rainfall totals will fluctuate as Milton gets closer.

Also, heavy rains that fell Saturday and are forecast to pick up on Sunday are not associated with Milton, meaning whatever Milton does bring will be falling on saturated ground.

A flood watch was issued for all of South Florida beginning Sunday through Thursday morning.

The forecast is likely to change in the coming days but as of Saturday, Palm Beach County has about a 40 to 50% chance of feeling tropical storm-force winds beginning late Tuesday or early Wednesday, according to the NHC.

Meteorologists in the National Weather Service office in Miami, which also forecasts for Naples, were more specific, saying West Palm Beach has a 41% chance of getting sustained tropical-storm force winds of 39 mph or higher through Wednesday night.

Fort Lauderdale has a 37% chance, with Miami having a 20% chance.

The chances for hurricane-force winds through Wednesday night are 4% for West Palm Beach, 3% for Fort Lauderdale, and less than 3% for Miami.

They noted that it was too early Saturday afternoon to predict potential storm surge totals but that “all potential impacts are in play at this time.”

That includes strong wind, storm surge, flooding rainfall, and tornadoes.

More:Hurricane Season 2024: Tips for starting a storm supply list

Fox Weather hurricane specialist Bryan Norcross said residents on the Gulf Coast should prepare for a “significant” storm surge event.

“Things are going to change fast, so plan to stay informed,” he said in his Hurricane Intel blog. “Don't pay attention to individual computer forecasts. As always, they are expected to jump around as the system develops.”

If Milton’s forecast holds true, it will be the fifth hurricane landfall in the continental U.S. this season and the third for Florida's vulnerable Gulf Coast. Hurricane Beryl, which became the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record when it deepened in July, made landfall in Texas as a Cat 1 on July 8.

Debby hit Steinhatchee, Florida, as at Cat 1 on Aug. 5. Francine reached the Louisiana coast as a Category 2 storm on Sept. 11. And Cat 4 Hurricane Helene brought havoc to Florida's west coast on Sept. 26, sending a lengthy storm surge that flooded homes as far south as Fort Myers Beach and left them in splinters in the Big Bend region.

"Florida, it's time to take some precautions," wrote NHC senior hurricane specialist Erik Blake in a social media post. "Gas and grocery for me today. The trend is not our friend. Pay attention for future updates."

Forecasts for the 2024 hurricane season overwhelmingly called for an above average 6-month spat of storms. A fast start led into a head-scratching lull and now a heartbreaking ramp-up. As of Oct. 4, the season was above normal for the date with the 12 named storms (the average through Oct. 4 is 11), and eight hurricanes, when the average is five.

It's rare, but not unprecedented, for an area to get hit by three hurricanes in a single season. In 2020, Louisiana's coast was hit by hurricanes Laura, Delta and Zeta. In 2004, an area south of Winter Haven had hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne run through it.

Kimberly Miller is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate, weather, and the environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism; subscribe today.

Fort Lauderdale’s chic new steakhouse may be the creation of a Miami hospitality team, but its goal is to highlight the best of all Florida has to offer.

Opening just south of the Henry E. Kinney tunnel, Daniel’s, a Florida steakhouse, is the latest addition to the blossoming Fort Lauderdale food scene. Established by the Gioia Hospitality Team, which includes founder Thomas Angelo, owner of the Michelin-recommended Italian restaurant Fiola in Coral Gables, Daniel’s has taken over the former space of Canyon, which closed in August after more than 25 years.

Angelo, who raised his family in Fort Lauderdale and has teamed up with his daughter Kassidy Angelo on the project, said that Daniel’s aims to draw guests from beyond the neighboring Rio Vista neighborhood and become a spot for everything from casual after-work happy hours to special occasions and family celebrations. Think of it as a somewhat more relaxed Fiola, only with significantly fewer pasta dishes.

“I think what we’re going to be providing is a great sense of hospitality and great food, and it’s going to be done in an approachable ambiance,” he said. “It’s not a stuffy place where people can’t be themselves.”

The 4,500-square-foot space is inviting, with copper accents, comfortable green banquettes and striking chandeliers. In keeping with the Florida theme, the restaurant features artwork by Naples-based photographer Michelle Tricca depicting the cowboys of Florida. You’ll also spot photographs of historic Fort Lauderdale from those bygone days when traffic wasn’t quite so congested.

A private dining room that can seat up to 25 guests features works by artists Alfred Hair and Harold Newton of the famous Florida Highwaymen, the legendary group of African American landscape painters. The paintings are on loan from Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Schlesinger.

The food also showcases Florida’s bounty. A collaboration by Fiola executive chef Daniel Ganem, who is also Gioia’s culinary director, and Angelo, the menu aims to source 50 to 60 percent of its ingredients from Florida. Before the opening, Ganem traveled around the state to meet with farmers and ranchers, from the rice paddies near Jacksonville to oyster farmers in the Panhandle to ranchers in the central part of the state.

Ganem is also working on creating a tasting menu at the six-seat chef’s counter in front of the open kitchen that highlights food from around the state. The chef’s counter will open sometime in the near future.

For now, the menu includes starters like a kale and hearts of palm salad and Florida Burrata (from — where else? — Florida creameries). There’s also the Wagyu & Pearls, with the wagyu provided by Florida co-op Arrowhead Beef topped with Kaluga Caviar. Skipper Bay in the Panhandle provides raw oysters, served with passionfruit mignonette.

There’s also a foie gras creme brulee with cashews, toasted coconut and mango and pastrami bao buns with Suwannee River wagyu brisket, onions, aged Gruyere and Thousand Island sauce.

Florida ranchers also supply meat for main dishes, including braised Suwannee River wagyu beef short rib served with potato fonduta and mushrooms; a wagyu ribeye; and a grass-fed Florida Providence Cattle strip steak.

The menu also branches out from red meat. There’s half of a roasted chicken with black winter truffles and preserved lemon butter and a pan-roasted hogfish with cucumbers, lime and fennel-tomato relish.

Ganem, who will continue to oversee Fiola’s kitchen, said that keeping an eye on both restaurants isn’t a problem. He’s already poring over old cookbooks, looking for ways to add Seminole and Calusa cuisine to the menu someday.

“The biggest pressure for me is making the farmers proud and the ranchers proud and finally showcasing Florida the way it should be,” he said. “We get to showcase some really cool items from different cultures.”

Led by Gioia’s wine and beverage director Daniel Bishop, the beverage program also pays tribute to locally produced beer and spirits, including those from Gulf Stream Distillery in Fort Lauderdale. Cocktails include the Stranahan Sour, named for Fort Lauderdale founder Frank Stranahan, and the famous Canyon margarita with prickly pear, a nod to the former restaurant in the space.

“We want guests to feel that connection to the state’s rich offerings with every sip,” said Bishop, who along with Ganem and Angelo will lead a series of wine and beverage events, including a Macallan dinner on Oct. 24.

Fort Lauderdale is a much different market than Coral Gables, and Angelo acknowledges that the team has worked to understand that (“We’ll pay close attention to that just as we did in Coral Gables,” he told the Miami Herald in August). But with new apartments and condos shooting up in and around downtown, even with chef-driven concepts like Timon Balloo’s The Katherine, the city has room for the culinary scene to grow.

Kassidy Angelo, who left a position at J.P. Morgan to join the team, said that Daniel’s hopes to be part of that development.

“Daniel’s can be part of what changes the city,” she said. “I grew up in Fort Lauderdale. My dad’s been here for almost 30 years. My mom grew up here. . . . There are so many amazing locally owned restaurants, but a lot of them don’t emphasize steak. So we kind of thought: How can do something different that would fill a niche? And we came up with the idea of Florida. People here are so proud to be Floridians. We really wanted to bring something to people where they felt at home.”

Where: 620 S. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale

Opening: Oct. 8

Hours: 5-10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 5-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday; closed Sunday-Monday; happy hour 5-7 p.m. Tuesday-Friday

Reservations and more information: www.danielssteak.com or 954-451-1200

This story was originally published October 4, 2024, 4:30 AM.

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Treated wastewater has been flushing into Fort Lauderdale’s Intracoastal Waterway nonstop since Monday night. The city’s economic engine Port Everglades, multi-million dollar yachts, and tourists taking the water taxi are all nearby.

Many locals who depend on the water for their livelihoods and fun are shaking their heads.

“This one is huge and fairly catastrophic,” said Jeff Maggio, a longtime fisherman.

“My first concern is the environment, the waterways, that’s what Fort Lauderdale is all about,” Chip Mayhugh said.

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According to the City of Fort Lauderdale, a subcontractor working on a project to prevent this sort of thing from happening unintentionally drilled into a 54-inch wastewater pipe at Port Everglades that goes from the George T. Lohmeyer water treatment plant out to the ocean.

In order to fix the pipe, the city says the wastewater needs to go through an emergency outfall, right under the 17th Street bridge.

“They’re a contractor we’ve used before. Unfortunately, whoever they hired to do the drilling didn’t map out the site well enough to know there was a 54-inch pipe underground," Mayor Dean Trantalis said. "How you miss that, I don’t know, but it happened and we are expecting full recovery."

The mayor says the contractor, Ricman Construction, is taking full responsibility for the actions of the subcontractor, ASE Telecom and Data, and will pay for the costs and expenses related to this incident. These costs have not yet been assessed.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is aware of the incident.

Locals are wringing their hands.

“When stuff like this happens there’s always an excuse," Maggio said. "I don’t care what the excuse is anymore, the fact of the matter is we are dumping sewage into the Intracoastal waterway in the most premiere spot in the entire country."

Signs are up warning people not to go into the water in the immediate area.

“It’s not the best-smelling water, but it is not hazardous to health according to our department heads, so it is treated water," Trantalis said. "We will get it fixed quickly, hopefully done within next day or so."

Locals feel that warning should include a mile in each direction.

“The people at the sandbar yesterday sitting in the water and probably had no idea that they were 1/4 mile way from treated sewage running around them,” said Scott Koller, who grew up in Fort Lauderdale.

MIAMI - Thousands of longshoremen across South Florida, including at PortMiami and Port Everglades, have gone on strike, demanding higher wages and job protections.

The strike began at midnight, with workers forming picket lines at the ports, protesting inflation and what they view as unfair compensation.

Christopher Rozier, a crane operator at Port Everglades, shared the financial strain he faces while supporting his family. "Life is not easy. Everything's gotten expensive cost of living, taxes, food, home ownership, even vehicles," Rozier said, adding that his earnings help support his wife's special needs grandson and assist his mother after his father's passing.

Johnnie Dixon, president of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) chapter in Fort Lauderdale, emphasized that the current pay, ranging between $41,000 and $81,000 annually, isn't keeping up with inflation.

The union is asking for a 77% wage increase over the next seven years, alongside stronger job protections, particularly against automation. "We're looking for a wage increase that counters inflation and more contributions toward retirement," Dixon said.

The strike, which impacts more than a dozen ports on the East and Gulf coasts, is part of a broader labor dispute involving around 25,000 dockworkers.

The United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), which is negotiating with the union, called their counteroffer fair, stating it would increase wages by nearly 50%, triple retirement contributions, and retain existing automation language. However, Dixon said the offer falls short of meeting the needs of workers.

"Our members top out at $39 an hour, but with the rising cost of housing, healthcare, and basic necessities, it's not enough. We are the backbone of the supply chain, moving everything from medical supplies to car parts, and we deserve fair compensation for the role we play," Dixon said.

The economic impact of the strike could be severe if it continues. Ports like Port Everglades handle 41% of South Florida's containerized cargo, while PortMiami deals with essential goods like fruits, vegetables, and machinery.

Carlos Hernandez, with the National Supermarket Association, is monitoring the situation. "Stores are well stocked for now, but if the strike lasts more than two weeks, we could see supply chain issues and higher prices," he warned.

Experts say a prolonged work stoppage could lead to retail shortages, higher consumer prices, and significant economic losses. A one-week strike could cost the U.S. economy nearly $3.8 billion, according to the Conference Board.

Craig Austin, a logistics expert at Florida International University, noted that "everything from bananas to car parts" could be affected, with potential shortages just ahead of the holiday season.

Despite concerns about supply chain disruptions, Dixon stressed that longshoremen are prepared to stay on the picket line until their demands are met.

"This is our livelihood. We put our lives on the line every day to keep America running, and we'll continue to fight for fair wages and job protections."

How many ports are in Florida? And how many cruise ship ports do we have? There is a difference.

A strike by longshore workers that started Tuesday is expected to affect cargo operations throughout the eastern United States, with the potential to negatively impact the supply of a wide range of goods at grocery stores and other retailers.

About 45,000 union workers walked off the job just after midnight Tuesday, Oct. 1, affecting 36 ports along the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf of Mexico — from Searsport, Maine, to Brownsville, Texas — that handle about one-half of U.S. ocean imports. The strike is against United States Maritime Alliance, a coalition of ocean container carriers, port associations and terminal operators.

Travelers may be wondering, "is my cruise vacation safe?" Though the port strike is affecting 36 ports, the International Longshoremen's Association is not striking against cruise lines or military operations.

Here's info about Florida's many seaports and why the strike will not affect cruise ship vacations sailing out of Florida's cruise ship ports.

How many ports are in Florida?

The Florida Department of State lists 15 seaports here, which falls under tourism and recreation.

How many cruise ship ports are in Florida?

Florida has seven cruise ports, two of which are the busiest cruise ship ports in the world (Port Miami and Port Canaveral).

Will port strike affect my cruise vacation? Will strike impact cruise ships sailing out of Florida?

According to FLORIDA TODAY, cruise vacations sailing out of Port Canaveral will not be affected by the strike. Same for South Florida's huge cruise industry − the Longshoremen strike will not affect cruise vacations sailing out of PortMiami and Port Everglades, a CBS News story filed Tuesday, Oct. 1, states.

The strike by longshore workers is expected to affect cargo operations across the eastern U.S., with the potential to negatively impact the supply of a wide range of goods at grocery stores and other retailers.

But Port Canaveral will not be directly affected, because the port's cargo operators use nonunion labor to load and unload cargo vessels docked there ― and not members of the striking International Longshoremen's Association.

Photos of Port Canaveral, Florida, one of the busiest ports in the world

Port Canaveral, one of the busiest ports in the world, is home to Disney Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line and others.

Port Canaveral also is home to SpaceX drone ships such as Just Read the Instructions and A Shortfall of Gravitas that retrieve the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rocket boosters in the Atlantic after a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station or Kennedy Space Center.

Photos of Port of Jacksonville or JaxPort in Jacksonville, Florida

Contributing: Medora Lee, USA TODAY