Florida residents are evacuating Tampa Bay ahead of Hurricane Milton, DeSantis assures evacuation routes are accessible
President Biden approved an emergency declaration for Florida as Hurricane Milton approaches. FEMA is deploying resources to the region.
Fearful Florida residents streamed out of the Tampa Bay region Tuesday ahead of what could be a once-in-a-century direct hit from Hurricane Milton, as crews worked furiously to prevent furniture, appliances and other waterlogged wreckage from the last big storm from becoming deadly projectiles in this one.
The preparations marked the last chance for millions of people in the Tampa metro area to prepare for lethal storm surges, ferocious winds and possible tornadoes in a place that has narrowly avoided a head-on blow from a major storm for generations.
“Today's the last day to get ready,” said Craig Fugate, a former FEMA director who previously ran the state's emergency operation division. “This is bringing everything.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state deployed over 300 dump trucks that had removed 1,300 loads of debris left behind by Hurricane Helene by Tuesday afternoon.
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In Clearwater Beach, Nick Szabo spent a second long day hauling away 3-foot piles of soggy mattresses, couches and drywall after being hired by a local resident who was eager to help clear the roads and unwilling to wait for overwhelmed city contractors.
“All this crap is going to be missiles,” he said. “It's like a spear coming at you.”
After weakening slightly, Milton regained strength on Tuesday afternoon and became a Category 5 storm again, with winds of 165 mph (265 kph).
It could make landfall Wednesday night in the Tampa Bay area, which has a population of more than 3.3 million people. The 11 Florida counties under mandatory evacuation orders are home to about 5.9 million people, according to population estimates from the US Census Bureau.
Those who defy the orders are on their own, and first responders are not expected to risk their lives to rescue them at the height of the storm.
“You do not have to get on the interstate and go far away,” DeSantis told a news conference, assuring residents there would be enough gasoline to fuel their cars for the trip. “You can evacuate tens of miles. You do not have to evacuate hundreds of miles away.”
Milton is forecast to cross central Florida and to dump as much as 18 inches (46 centimeters) of rain while heading toward the Atlantic Ocean, according to the National Hurricane Centre.
That path would largely spare other states ravaged by Helene, which killed at least 230 people on its path from Florida to the Carolinas.
The arrival of back-to-back hurricanes that rapidly intensified into mighty storms comes as climate change exacerbates conditions that are allowing them to thrive in warming waters. Milton is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which started June 1.
Tampa Bay has not been hit directly by a major hurricane since 1921, and authorities fear its luck is about to run out. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor issued increasingly dire warnings, noting that a 15-foot surge could swallow an entire house.
“So if you're in it, basically that's the coffin that you're in,” she said.
There's no good recent example of how bad it could be because even historic hurricanes such as Andrew, Harvey and Katrina did not actually directly hit a major metropolitan area. They were all to the side, said University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy.
“It's hard to see places coming out of this very well. If it's not the worst case ... even the next worst case is very bad,” McNoldy said.
Hurricane warnings extended to East Coast as storm creeps closer
Most of Florida's west coast was under a hurricane or tropical storm warning as the system spun just off Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, creeping toward shore and sucking energy from the Gulf of Mexico's warm waters. Hurricane warnings were extended early Tuesday to parts of the state's east coast.
In Riverview, south of Tampa, several drivers waiting in a long line for fuel Tuesday morning said they had no plans to evacuate.
“I think we'll just hang, you know — tough it out,” said Martin Oakes, of nearby Apollo Beach. “We got shutters up. The house is all ready. So this is sort of the last piece of the puzzle.”
Ralph Douglas, who lives in neighbouring Ruskin, said he, too, will stay put, in part because he worries about running out of gas trying to return after the storm or getting blocked by debris.
“Where I'm at right now, I don't think I need to evacuate,” he said.
At the Tampa airport, John Fedor and his wife were trying to catch a cab to a storm shelter after missing multiple flights home to Philadelphia. They had hoped taking a Caribbean cruise would bring them closer, but tensions were rising after they spent nearly USD 1,000 on unplanned transportation and hotel rooms due to travel delays.
After a two-mile walk to the airport, Fedor's suitcase cracked open and the wheels broke. They considered driving home or taking a train, but nothing worked out.
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“We're kind of like stranded here," Fedor said.
President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Florida, and the White House announced on Tuesday that he would postpone a trip to Germany and Angola to monitor the storm.
“This could be the worst storm to hit Florida in over a century,” Biden told reporters. “God willing it won't be. But that's what it's looking like right now.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has almost 900 staff members in the region and has stocked two staging areas with 20 million meals and 40 million litres of water, the White House said.
