Florida governor warns ‘hazards are increasing’ as hurricane nears
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaking early Wednesday afternoon as Hurricane Milton approached, said ‘conditions are starting to get bad’ and urged people to watch for updates about the safety situation in their local area.
Hurricane Milton hurled rain, tornadoes and tropical storm-force winds at the U.S. coast on Wednesday as time began to run out for residents to evacuate from the potentially catastrophic path the storm was carving toward Florida.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center stressed that it was not certain where Milton’s centre would come ashore on Wednesday night because the storm’s path might “wobble,” but the entire Tampa Bay region and points south were at grave risk. Tropical storm-force winds began lashing the coast Wednesday afternoon.
Earlier, officials issued dire warnings to flee or face grim odds of survival.
“This is it, folks,” said Cathie Perkins, emergency management director in Pinellas County, which sits on the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay. “Those of you who were punched during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out, and you need to get out now.”
By late afternoon, some officials said the time had passed for such efforts.
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“Unless you really have a good reason to leave at this point, we suggest you just hunker down,” Polk County Emergency Management director Paul Womble said in a public update.
Likewise, Pasco County officials told residents it was “time to ride out the storm where you are” and to expect that emergency workers would not be able to respond to calls for several hours during the storm.
Milton, which has fluctuated in intensity as it approaches Florida, was a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday afternoon. It was expected to remain a hurricane after hitting land and plowing across the state, including the heavily populated Orlando area, through Thursday.
Tampa Bay, near the top of a long stretch of coastline that could be in the bull’s eye, has not taken a direct hit from a major hurricane in more than a century.
Residents should not feel relief because of indications Milton might come ashore south of Tampa, Perkins said: “Everybody in Tampa Bay should assume we are going to be ground zero.”
“That doesn’t mean that it couldn’t happen,” said Luisa Meshekoff, who nevertheless was staying put with her partner and eight cats in their home, a brick warehouse in a mandatory evacuation zone in Tampa’s Channel District. The couple considered leaving but felt bringing the cats to a shelter wasn’t an option, and they worried that getting stuck on the roads could be dangerous.
“I think if you have water and batteries, everything’s OK,” Meshekoff said. “I could be singing a different tune by 2 in the morning.”
Milton threatened communities still reeling two weeks after Hurricane Helene flooded streets and homes in western Florida and left at least 230 people dead across the South. In many places along the coast, municipalities raced to collect and dispose of debris before Milton’s winds and storm surge could toss it around and compound any damage.
With the storm weaker but growing in size, the surge was projected to reach as high as 3.6 metres in Tampa Bay and up to four metres farther south, between Sarasota, Fla., and Fort Myers, Fla.
‘People need to get to their safe place’
Mary Ann Fairman, 84, was among roughly 1,000 people at a shelter in West Bradenton. She stayed home during Helene but packed up blankets, snacks and toiletries and left this time. “The Gulf is practically in our backyard,” she said.
In Pasco County, home to more than half a million people in bedroom communities for Tampa and St. Petersburg, officials said shortly before noon that they were getting ready to take buses off the road.
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NASA released new video recorded from the International Space Station on Wednesday showing Hurricane Milton as it swirled toward Florida on Wednesday. Astronaut Matthew Dominick posted the video on social media, saying the storm looked bigger but less symmetric than a day earlier.
“This is your last chance if you need to get to a shelter,” they said in a statement. “After that, you’ll need to find a way to the shelter or be prepared to ride out the storm.” The famous Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which spans the mouth of Tampa Bay, closed at around midday. Other major bridges also closed.
“Yesterday I said the clock was ticking. Today I’m saying the alarm bell is really going off. People need to get to their safe place,” said Ken Graham, director of the U.S. National Weather Service.
At a news conference in Tallahassee, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis described deployment of a wide range of resources, including 9,000 National Guard members from Florida and other states; over 50,000 power line workers from as far away as California; and highway patrol cars with sirens to escort gasoline tankers to replenish supplies so people could fill up their tanks before evacuating.
“Unfortunately, there will be fatalities. I don’t think there’s any way around that,” DeSantis said.
Milton was centred about 100 kilometres west-southwest of Sarasota on Wednesday evening and had maximum sustained winds of 195 km/h, the hurricane centre reported. It was moving northeast at 29 km/h.
Heavy rain and tornadoes lashed parts of southern Florida starting Wednesday morning, with conditions deteriorating. Fifteen to 31 centimetres of rain, with up to 46 centimetres in some places, was expected well inland, bringing the risk of catastrophic flooding.
One twister touched down Wednesday morning in the lightly populated Everglades and crossed Interstate 75. Another apparent tornado touched down in Fort Myers, snapping tree limbs and tearing a gas station’s canopy to shreds.
Authorities have issued mandatory evacuation orders across 15 Florida counties with a total population of about 7.2 million people. Officials warned that anyone staying behind must fend for themselves, because first responders were not expected to risk their lives attempting rescues at the height of the storm.
WATCH | Beekeepers fear further losses with arrival of Milton:
Florida beekeeping couple worry about their hives as Milton looms
Matthew and Allison Davis of St. Petersburg, Fla., are among the many Tampa Bay-area residents under a mandatory evacuation order ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton. The couple, who are beekeepers, say they’ve taken steps to protect their hives and are hoping for the best after losing millions of bees in the last major storm, Helene.
‘A long road ahead of us’
St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch told residents to expect long power outages and the possible shutdown of the sewer system.
In Charlotte Harbor, Fla., about 160 kilometres south of Tampa, clouds swirled and winds gusted as Josh Parks packed his Kia sedan with clothes and other belongings. Two weeks ago, Helene’s surge brought about 1.5 metres of water to the neighbourhood, and its streets remain filled with waterlogged furniture, torn-out drywall and other debris.
Parks, an auto technician, planned to flee to his daughter’s home inland and said his roommate already left.
“I told her to pack like you aren’t coming back,” he said.
By early afternoon, airlines had cancelled about 1,900 flights. SeaWorld was closed all day Wednesday, and Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando shut down in the afternoon.
WATCH l Why this storm has hurricane specialists worried:
Florida bracing: Why is Hurricane Milton so threatening? | About That
Still reeling from Hurricane Helene, millions of Floridians are now preparing for the worst as Hurricane Milton barrels towards the state. Andrew Chang breaks down why Milton is set to be one of Florida’s worst storms in a century.
Air Canada earlier told CBC News that about 20 return flights to the affected areas in Florida have already been cancelled up to this point. Travellers are advised to check the status of their flights before going to the airport.
The airline said it had made available nearly 900 extra seats to Orlando and Tampa prior to the storm’s arrival, and it formalized a plan to add more than 1,100 seats after the storm.
“This is an evolving situation and our plans are subject to change depending on the course of the storm, airport availability and other factors,” the airline said in a statement.
WATCH | Impacts of climate change seen faster than anticipated:
Larger, more frequent hurricanes demand better adaptation, says Tampa Bay-area mayor
Mayor Ken Welch of St. Petersburg, Fla., says while his city has invested in adapting to the change in climate, the impacts of a warmer world are being seen more quickly than anticipated, which means building higher seawalls and stronger infrastructure.
In the Tampa Bay area’s Gulfport, Christian Burke and his mother stayed put in their three-storey concrete home overlooking the bay. Burke said his father designed this home with a Category 5 in mind — and now they’re going to test it.
As a passing police vehicle blared encouragement to evacuate, Burke acknowledged that staying isn’t a good idea but said he’s “not laughing at this storm one bit” — he just believes the house his father built will withstand it.
Some 1,700 people hunkered down at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg, including Trokon Nagbe and his husband, Morris Kulp. They slept on the floor because they didn’t bring their own cots.
“It’s not the Hilton or the Marriott,” Kulp said, “but it sure is appreciated.”
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The Current19:09Floridians flee second monster storm in weeks
Hurricane Milton is bearing down on Florida, just weeks after the destruction of Hurricane Helene. Jaina Thatch has already been evacuated. She says facing two monster storms back-to-back is unimaginable, she just hopes she’ll have a home to go back to.