TAMPA, FLA. — The US Southeast agricultural sector, already stymied in recent weeks by record-breaking Hurricane Helene and a short-lived strike by International Longshoremen’s Association port workers, was facing another grim prospect Wednesday — the arrival of Hurricane Milton. That could spell more bad news for the movement of ag commodities throughout the hard-hit Southeast region, especially bananas, pineapples and fresh orange juice.

As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, Milton was a Category 3 hurricane with 125 mph sustained winds, expected to make landfall late in the day near the Tampa Bay area of Florida’s central Gulf Coast. The National Weather Service in Tampa Bay (NWS) reported that Milton already had set one record — for the most tornado warnings issued in a single day across the state of Florida: 90 and counting. The storm’s wind field was expected eventually to stretch more than 300 miles from Miami all the way to Savannah, Ga., the National Weather Service said, and the hurricane could drop up to 18 inches of rain on parts of central Florida.

“The track of Hurricane Milton continues to be a worst-case scenario for the Tampa Bay region southward to Charlotte,” the NWS wrote in a Wednesday briefing.

Four of Florida’s 16 public seaports were in the hurricane’s immediate path, with port operations temporarily suspended as the fast-moving storm approached and the US Coast Guard shuttered shipping lanes. But Carlos Buqueras, port director at SeaPort Manatee on south Tampa Bay and chairman of the Florida Ports Council, said his facilities were prepared.

“It’s coming like a freight train — we’re bracing ourselves with everything we have to make sure we are as ready as possible,” Buqueras said. “We’re monitoring our warehouses closely right now, because of course the food suppliers too have temporarily shut down until the storm passes.”

Fruit imported from Central and South America — particularly from Brazil — could see disruptions depending on the storm’s impact, Buqueras said.

“We have 1.2 billion bananas per year — or 2.2 million bananas per day” passing through the port, he noted, “along with 30 million to 40 million pineapples per year. So, we’re a major, major produce import facility.”

SeaPort Manatee also handles millions of gallons of fresh orange juice imported annually from Brazil.

“We’re talking supertankers that instead of petroleum are carrying fresh orange juice to get discharged at the port, the same way they discharge petroleum,” Buqueras said. “And then for each of those ships about 2,800 tanker trucks move that orange juice to other parts of Florida and the country.”

While sea-based transport was expected to experience temporary disruptions as Milton crossed the state, those likely would be short-lived as the fast-moving storm came and went, Buqueras said. But land-based transport by truck and rail, already badly disrupted by Hurricane Helene two weeks ago, could take another serious hit as the storm toppled trees, flooded roads, and backed up highways.

“It will depend on what infrastructure is ultimately affected,” Buqueras said. “The weather people, the Florida Department of Transportation, and the state of Florida — once it’s out of the way, will move quickly to inspect the infrastructure by sending up drones, etc. We’ll have plenty of fuel and we’ll have the fruits, but we need to get transport in and out to take care of it.”

That could present problems similar to those inflicted by Hurricane Helene across large portions of Georgia and North Carolina, when high winds and flooding destroyed roadways and wreaked havoc on freight traffic and far inland from the storm’s landfall. Not to mention crop damage: Some Georgia pecan growers lost nearly 100% of their trees to Helene.

Flooding and high winds in and around Florida’s Lake Okeechobee could cause issues for US sugar interests, as well. About 70% of the nation’s sugar cane is produced in organic soils along the southern and southeastern shore of the lake, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Several of Wednesday’s tornado warnings were issued for that region.

“With food more than anything, every lost minute is a loss of product, loss of money,” Buqueras said. “As quickly as they’re able to load again, we will be ready. We will be open. All four Tampa-area ports will be back open as soon as possible. Whether it’s food or fuel — it all goes hand in hand.”