Florida residents are leaving Florida by the thousands, after the authorities issued a stern warning that Hurricane Milton is coming, which will be extremely dangerous.
Florida authorities today stepped up evacuation calls for citizens, warning them that if they stay they will die. Milton is expected to make landfall on the peninsula in the southeastern US Wednesday night into Thursday.
Having already been hit by Hurricane Elin’s devastating passage ten days ago, “the entire Florida peninsula is under some form of either watch or alert,” state Governor Ron DeSandis warned today.
Hurricane Elin was a red flag, this one is literally catastrophic, Jane Castor, the mayor of Tampa, told CNN yesterday. “I can say this without any sense of drama: if you choose to stay in one of the evacuation zones, you will die.”
The mass flight of residents caused overnight traffic jams, while those who remained rushed to empty the shelves of supermarkets and stock up on essentials. Generators, food, water and other essentials are being distributed across Florida, and many residents are scrambling to protect their homes or simply planning to leave.
The window is almost closed for people who would like to escape by plane, as airports in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Orlando have already begun to close.
Residents who have accepted they will not be able to leave and are preparing to evacuate have begun panic buying supplies, emptying store shelves of bottled water, toilet paper and other essentials.
Those still desperately trying to escape and follow evacuation orders say it may be too “dangerous” to hit the streets because local gas stations have run out of fuel.
However, Gov. Ron DeSantis this morning assured residents that there is enough fuel to see out the storm.
Milton was so strong overnight that experts were calling for an unprecedented Category 6 status, but the hurricane was downgraded to a Category 4 early this morning. Forecasters warn that Milton is “expected to increase in size” and remain “an extremely dangerous hurricane” when it makes landfall tomorrow.
“You have time to leave. So please do it,” the Republican governor urged residents of the threatened areas yesterday. The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that Milton was an “extremely dangerous cyclone” and called on residents to “prepare today for Milton’s arrival and evacuate their areas if directed to do so by authorities”.
Milton is expected to arrive in Florida, the third most populous state in the US, on the night of Wednesday into Thursday. Most Florida ports, including Tampa and Sarasota, closed to all vessel traffic today ahead of Milton, while terminals in South Carolina, including Charleston, began implementing shipping restrictions, the the US Coast Guard.
Milton weakened to a Category 4 hurricane. Today, at 15:00 Greek time, it was located in the Gulf of Mexico, 880 km from Tampa and heading east-northeast with maximum winds of 230 km/h, the US National Hurricane Center said.
“Destructive waves” and a “death-threatening storm surge” are expected today along the northern coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, the NHC warned.
Milton is “the worst” storm to hit the Tampa area in more than 100 years, according to the NHC.
Source: www.enikos.gr
