Floridians flee oncoming Hurricane Milton

What happened

Residents of Florida's central west coast made final preparations for Hurricane Milton, which roared back to a Category 5 storm Tuesday and is forecast to make landfall near Sarasota late Wednesday or early Thursday as an "extremely dangerous" Category 3 hurricane. Eleven Florida counties were under mandatory evacuation orders early Wednesday, though not all 5.9 million people in those counties were told to flee inland. The flood of people leaving low-lying areas around Tampa Bay clogged highways Tuesday, and at least 1,500 gas stations across Florida ran out of fuel by last night.

Who said what

"If you're under evacuation orders you should evacuate now, now, now," President Joe Biden said yesterday. "This could be the worst storm to hit Florida in over a century." FEMA has nearly 900 staff members in the region along with 20 million meals and 10.5 million gallons of water, the White House said.

The evacuation orders were for people in the path of deadly storm surge, projected to reach up to 15 feet in some areas — higher than some house roofs, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said. "So if you're in it, basically that's the coffin that you're in." By yesterday evening, "many of the affected neighborhoods felt desolate," The New York Times said, "suggesting that residents had taken evacuation orders seriously."

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Cleanup crews were still working yesterday to clear the debris from Hurricane Helene before Milton's winds hit. "All this crap is going to be missiles," Clearwater hauler Nick Szabo told The Associated Press. "It's like a spear coming at you."

What next?

Tampa Bay may be spared a catastrophic direct hit, as Milton's path wobbled southward a bit Tuesday. But the National Hurricane Center said its forecast landfall point could shift by as much as 60 miles, and strong winds and heavy rain will affect most of the state. "If it's not the worst case," said University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy, "even the next worst case is very bad."