HURRICANE MILTON as seen from the International Space Station (NASA).

Flood waters churned by Hurricane Milton which threatened to smash into the heavily populated Tampa Bay of Florida instead veered off.

According to the Associated Press, the 15-feet of water that forecasters worried might strike the area, actually reversed itself and drained by several feet because of a “reverse storm surge” as the spinning storm pushed water one way at one end and the other way at the other end.

Nevertheless, the storm did hit with high winds and local flooding that left an estimated 3 million people without phone service or electric power.

Tropicana Field, home stadium of baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays suffered heavy damage to the domed buildings’ fabric roof.

In action to the hurricane itself, tornadoes were reported across the state. So far, eight deaths have been blamed on Milton.

Israeli air strikes kill 22 people

ISRAELI F-15 jets used in September to attack targets in Lebanon (Wikipedia).

Air strikes by Israeli jets smashed two buildings on Thursday in the central area of Beirut, Lebanon, killing at least 22 people and wounding at least 117 others.

The New York Times is reporting that an eight-story structure and a four-story building were destroyed and adjacent buildings damaged as well.

Israel officials have declined to comment on the strikes. Earlier in the day, United Nations officials claimed that Israeli troops fired on UN peacekeepers, wounding two. Israel has been attacking into Lebanon in an effort to cripple Hezbollah, a militant group that fired missiles into Israel in support of Hamas, another militant group that touched a war on a year ago with raids into Israel.

Reward in sea lion killing

A reward of $20,000 is being offered for information about the deadly shooting of a sea lion in or near Huntington Beach.

Federal officials say the wounded male sea mammal was found on Bolsa Chica State Beach on Aug. 7, according to the Associated Press.

Federal law ban harassing, hunting, capturing or killing sea lions and other sea lions and other marine mammals. Civil or criminal charges can be brought against violators.

Weather: Time to cool off

Some real Southern California autumn weather is headed toward our West Orange County cities. The forecast calls for daily highs to drop 11 degrees in four days. Friday is expected to have a high of 81 (with an overnight low of 68) on Friday, with fog in the morning and sunshine in the afternoon. Saturday will cool to 78 (59) under partly cloudy skies. Sunday will drop to 73 (60) and Monday to 70 (59), all with partly cloudy skies.

Great Thoughts

“The difference between fiction and reality is that people expect fiction to make sense.”

Brad Thor, novelist