Florida authorities are issuing dire warnings and advising residents in the path of Hurricane Milton that “time is running out” to evacuate before the potentially historic storm makes landfall on Wednesday evening. Milton re-intensified to a Cat 5 storm on Tuesday evening, with forecasters estimating that the hurricane will reach Florida’s Gulf Coast between 10 p.m Wednesday and 2 a.m. Thursday.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis continued to urge those who have yet to move out of Milton’s path to do so as soon as possible, with mandatory evacuations placed into effect for parts of western Florida, and 51 counties currently under a state of emergency. As of press time, mandatory evacuation orders were in effect for the counties of Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Manatee, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando, Citrus and Levy along Florida’s western coast and Volusia on the eastern coast of Central Florida.
DeSantis told reporters at a press conference at the state Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee: “You have time today. Time is running out. But you do have time today to heed any evacuation orders and do what you need to do to protect yourself and our families .. There’s no guarantee what the weather’s going to be like starting Wednesday morning. You may have a window where it may be safe, but you may not. So use today as your day to finalize and execute the plan that is going to protect you and your family.”
DeSantis said that the entire west coast of Florida is facing significant storm surge from Milton, with some areas expecting to see water get as high as 15 feet from the storm. The governor noted that movements in the storm could vary from the National Weather Service cone, where the eye could end up anywhere from Tampa to Fort Myers: “We just saw what just four feet [of storm surge] did to some of these communities. This is something that’s going to be really significant. Milton is no longer a Category 5, but it can grow back to that as it moves to the state of Florida. The forecast expects it to weaken before it makes landfall. I hope that is true. Even if it does weaken, you’re still looking at a major hurricane. It’s really going to have some significant impacts.”
Sarasota Mayor Liz Alpert noted: “What everyone has been saying is, you have to evacuate, it is not survivable, to survive a 10- to 15-foot storm surge. It just simply isn’t.”
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said she fears that debris left by Hurricane Helene might make things worse when Milton makes landfall: “Anybody and everybody, neighbors helping neighbors, just to get that household debris out of the way so that Milton doesn’t pick it up and use it as a weapon. This is literally a difference between life and death,” Castor said. “So people don’t have to go far, they just need to get inland. They have got to get out of the path of that storm surge.” When speaking with CNN, Castor said bluntly: “I can say without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you’re going to die.”
Hurricane warnings have been issued for both the East and West coasts of Florida, with the mandatory evacuation orders being the latest warnings given by officials as Milton moves closer to Florida in areas just hit by Hurricane Helene about two weeks ago. On the West coast, hurricane warnings were issued from Bonita Beach northward to the mouth of the Suwannee River, including the Tampa Bay area. In addition, hurricane warnings were issued on the East coast from the Indian River/St. Lucie county line to Ponte Vedra Beach to the mouth of the St. Mary’s River.
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