On Tuesday, numerous Florida residents began to leave Tampa Bay in the face of the threat of a possible direct impact from Hurricane Milton, while work teams struggled to remove furniture, appliances and other soaked remains left after the last storm, preventing them from becoming dangerous projectiles.
This day marked the last chance for millions of people in the Tampa metropolitan area to prepare for deadly storm surge, strong winds and possible tornadoes in an area that, for generations, has avoided the direct hit of a Category 3 or higher storm. .
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“Today is the only day to prepare,” said Craig Fugate, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), who previously headed the state’s emergency operations division. “This comes from everything.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the state deployed more than 300 trucks that by Tuesday afternoon had removed 1,300 piles of debris left behind by Hurricane Helene recently. In Clearwater Beach, Nick Szabo spent a second day picking up wet mattresses and couches, as well as drywall, after being hired by a local resident eager to help clear the paths and unwilling to wait for the city’s overwhelming contractors.
“All this garbage is going to be converted into missiles,” he commented. “It’s like a spear coming towards you.”
After weakening slightly early Tuesday, Milton gained strength again in the afternoon and became a Category 5 storm again, with winds of 260 kilometers per hour (160 miles per hour). It could make landfall Wednesday night in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, which has a population of more than 3.3 million people.
The 11 Florida counties that are under mandatory evacuation orders have about 5.9 million residentsaccording to estimates from the Census Bureau.
Variations in the storm’s intensity are likely as Milton moves through the Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, but it is forecast to be a dangerous Category 3 or larger storm when it hits. . Florida.
Milton’s forecast track also changed slightly on Tuesday, meaning it could make landfall on Wednesday in less populated areas south of Tampa Bay.according to the NHC.
However, the entire region is expected to be hit by the storm.
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Milton is forecast to cross central Florida, dumping up to 18 inches (46 centimeters) of rain as it heads toward the Atlantic Ocean, the NHC added. That excludes several states that were also hit by Helene, which caused at least 230 deaths on its way from Florida to North and South Carolina.
The arrival of hurricanes that quickly intensified to Category 3 or greater storms occurs as climate change exacerbates the conditions that allow them to increase their strength in warm waters. Milton is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1.
Most of Florida’s west coast was under a hurricane or tropical storm warning as the system passed off the coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.approaching dry land and taking strength from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane watches were expanded Tuesday to include parts of the state’s east coast.
Tampa Bay has not been directly hit by a Category 3 major hurricane since 1921and authorities fear their luck is about to run out. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor issued increasingly dire warnings, noting that a 15-foot (4.5-meter) storm surge could swallow an entire house.
“So if you’re in there, that’s basically your coffin,” he said.
YC
