In anticipation of Hurricane Milton, a Category 5 storm that could be among the most destructive to ever hit Florida’s Gulf Coast, residents had one last day on Wednesday to evacuate or seek shelter.More than a million people in coastal areas were placed under evacuation orders, and as they fled for higher ground, traffic jams formed and petrol stations ran out of fuel, further upsetting the area that was only recently beginning to recover from Hurricane Helene’s devastating effects.
Despite this, meteorologists warned that the storm’s path might change before it lands on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.The storm is expected to bring a deadly storm surge of at least 10 feet (3 meters) to most of Florida’s Gulf Coast. It is travelling on an uncommon west-to-east path through the Gulf of Mexico.
National Hurricane Center advisory made on October 8
Representatives from U.S. President Joe Biden Tampa Mayor Jane Castor issued an evacuation zone warning, telling residents to leave immediately or face possible death.Michael Tylenda, who was visiting his son in Tampa, said he was heeding that advice.”If anybody knows anything about Florida, when you don’t evacuate when you’re ordered to, you can pretty much die,” Tylenda said. “They’ve had a lot of people here stay at their homes and they end up drowning. It’s just not worth it. You know, the house can be replaced. The stuff can be replaced. So it’s just better to get out of town.”
According to the U.S. National Hurricane Centre, Milton had maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (260 kph), ranking it as the strongest storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale.Milton might be lowered to a lower category as wind speeds decreased, but the storm’s size was increasing and more coastal areas were becoming vulnerable.
A drone view shows storm clouds over the Caloosahatchee River as Hurricane Milton approaches Fort Myers, Florida, U.S. October 8, 2024. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo Purchase Licensing Rights
People board up businesses as Hurricane Milton approaches Fort Myers, Florida, U.S. October 8, 2024. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo
A man buys wood to protect his house before the arrival of Hurricane Milton, in Orlando, Florida, U.S. October 8, 2024. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez Purchase Licensing Rightson
At 10 p.m. CDT (0300 GMT), the eye of the storm was 405 miles (650 km) southwest of Tampa, moving northeast at 12 mph (19 kph).
Milton was predicted to continue to strengthen into a hurricane as it moved across the Florida peninsula, posing a risk of storm surge along the state’s Atlantic coast.According to Oxford Economics’ chief U.S. economist Ryan Sweet, 2.8% of the country’s GDP is directly impacted by Milton. As they prepared for disruptions, a number of businesses, including airlines, energy companies, and a theme park called Universal Studios, started to suspend operations in Florida.Milton developed from a Category 1 to a Category 5 storm in less than a day, making it the third-fastest Atlantic storm on record to intensify.”The fuel required for the rapid intensification that we observed to occur is these extraordinarily warm sea surface temperatures,” said climate scientist Daniel Gilford of the nonprofit research organisation Climate Central. “We are aware that global warming is occurring as a result of human activity increasing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, primarily through the burning of fossil fuels.”
Hillsborough County in Tampa was among the more than a dozen coastal counties that issued mandatory evacuation orders. More than 500,000 residents of Pinellas County, which includes St. Petersburg, were ordered to evacuate. According to Lee County, 416,000 people resided in the areas where evacuation was required.Mandated evacuations also applied to assisted living facilities, nursing homes, and mobile homes.Jamie Watts, a resident of Fort Myers, and his spouse sought shelter in a hotel following the destruction of their prior caravan by Hurricane Ian in 2022.”My spouse is content. Watts declared, “We are not in that tin can.””We watched my roof literally come off my house while we were there during Ian, and it caused us great distress. Thus, I am going to be a little safer this time,” he declared.According to fuel markets tracker GasBuddy, roughly 17% of Florida’s nearly 8,000 petrol stations ran out of fuel on Tuesday, causing bumper-to-bumper traffic to clog the roads heading out of Tampa.
Bar chart showing FEMA’s disaster relief funding and obligations as of Aug. 2024.
