Florida Gulf Coast Braces for Impact as ‘Catastrophic’ Hurricane Milton Nears

Hurricane Milton heads towards Florida’s Gulf Coast, posing a catastrophic threat with heavy rain, strong winds, and potential flooding. Evacuations in effect.

On Wednesday, Hurricane Milton advanced rapidly towards Florida’s Gulf Coast, giving residents one last day to either evacuate or brace themselves before the “catastrophic” Category 5 storm is expected to strike, potentially causing a life-threatening storm surge.

Over 1 million residents in coastal areas were ordered to evacuate, causing highways to become congested on Tuesday as people sought higher ground. Gas stations ran out of fuel in a region still recovering from the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene less than two weeks prior.

The storm was heading directly toward the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, which is home to over 3 million people. However, forecasters indicated that its path might change before making landfall late Wednesday night.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center characterized Milton as a “catastrophic” and “dangerous” major hurricane, with maximum sustained winds reaching 160 mph (260 kph), placing it at the highest category on the five-tier Saffir-Simpson scale.

According to an advisory issued overnight, weather conditions are anticipated to begin worsening in the afternoon.

According to the White House, U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to receive a briefing on the storm at noon, with President Biden planning to deliver remarks later in the afternoon.

Liz Alpert, the mayor of Sarasota, Florida, stated that her coastal city, located just south of Tampa Bay, was as prepared as possible.

“We’re as prepared as possible, but this storm is going to be extremely severe,” she said in an interview with MSNBC.

“Emotionally, it’s incredibly challenging for people who went through the hurricane just two weeks ago to be facing another one so soon.”

Milton is taking an uncommon path from west to east across the Gulf of Mexico, and it is expected to cause a potentially deadly storm surge with flooding exceeding 10 feet (3 meters) along much of Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Officials, including President Biden and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, urged residents in evacuation zones to evacuate immediately or face life-threatening risks.

Michael Tylenda mentioned that he was following the advice while visiting his son in Tampa.

Tylenda emphasized the importance of evacuating when ordered in Florida, warning that ignoring such orders can be fatal. “We’ve seen many people choose to stay at home and tragically drown,” he said. “It’s simply not worth it; homes and belongings are replaceable, but lives aren’t. It’s always safer to leave town.”

Although wind speeds might decrease, potentially relegating Milton to a lower category, the storm’s size was expanding, increasing the risk for additional coastal areas. In its latest advisory, the NHC indicated that Milton is anticipated to shift east-northeast and then east on Thursday and Friday.

Ryan Sweet, the chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, stated that approximately 2.8% of the U.S. gross domestic product is directly in Milton’s path. Companies such as airlines, energy firms, and a Universal Studios theme park have started to suspend their Florida operations in anticipation of potential disruptions.

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Milton became the third-fastest intensifying storm on record in the Atlantic, escalating from a Category 1 to a Category 5 in under 24 hours.

“These exceptionally high sea surface temperatures supply the energy needed for the rapid intensification we observed,” stated Daniel Gilford, a climate scientist at Climate Central, a nonprofit research organization. “As humans emit more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere—primarily by burning fossil fuels—we are contributing to rising global temperatures.”

Over a dozen coastal counties, including Hillsborough County in Tampa, issued mandatory evacuation orders. Pinellas County, home to St. Petersburg, mandated the evacuation of more than 500,000 residents. Meanwhile, Lee County reported that its mandatory evacuation zones encompassed 416,000 people.

Mandatory evacuations were also implemented for mobile homes, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities.

In Fort Myers, Jamie Watts and his wife sought shelter in a hotel after their mobile home was destroyed by Hurricane Ian in 2022.

“My wife is happy that we’re not stuck in that cramped space,” Watts remarked.

“We stayed during Ian and watched as my roof was torn off, which left us in turmoil. This time, I’m going to take safer precautions,” he said.

On Tuesday, bumper-to-bumper traffic congested the roads departing Tampa as approximately 17% of Florida’s nearly 8,000 gas stations were out of fuel, reported by GasBuddy, a fuel market tracker.

Written by Daniel Trotta, with contributions from Julio-Cesar Chavez and Octavio Jones in Tampa, Evan Garcia in Fort Myers, Rich McKay in Atlanta, Brendan O’Brien in Chicago, Susan Heavey in Washington DC., and Daksh Grover in Bengaluru. Edited by Lincoln Feast along with Ros Russell and Toby Chopra.

 Reuters