Hurricane Milton: Florida braces for storm's landfall with huge evacuation under way

[The_DADDY]

Hurricane Milton has shocked experts with how quickly it intensified ahead of its expected landfall late on Wednesday or early Thursday, coming around two weeks after Hurricane Helene killed over 200 people in the US.

Florida is bracing for the landfall of category five Hurricane Milton, as officials have pleaded with residents to follow evacuation orders.

 

Given the potential destruction of the storm, President Joe Biden postponed an upcoming trip to Germany and Angola in order to oversee preparations for the storm - in addition to the ongoing response to Hurricane Helene.

 

"This could be the worst storm to hit Florida in over a century, and God-willing it won't be, but it's looking like that right now," Mr Biden said.

 

He added: "I just don't think I can be out of the country at this time."

'We haven't seen a storm like this in a lifetime'

 

Florida governor Ron De Santis said on Tuesday morning: "Now is the time to execute your [evacuation] plan ... but that time is running out."

 

His office declared a state of emergency for some of the worst affected areas.

 

A similar one was later declared in parts of Georgia too.

State workers rushed to clear debris from Hurricane Helene as evacuation orders are in place for over one million people in Florida's west-coast counties.

Sarasota Mayor Liz Alpert told Sky News' US partner network NBC News: "You have to evacuate, it [Hurricane Milton] is not survivable."

Such is the power of Hurricane Milton that, despite forecasters expecting it to weaken before landfall, it could land a once-in-a-century hit on the cities of Tampa and St Petersburg, engulfing the regions with possibly deadly storm surges.

 

"This is the real deal here with Milton," Tampa mayor Jane Castor told a Monday news conference. "If you want to take on Mother Nature, she wins 100% of the time."

In an interview with CNN on Monday, Ms Castor was even more blunt.

 

She told the US outlet: "I can say without any dramatisation whatsoever: if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you're going to die."

Pasco County is located on Florida's west coast and its director of emergency management Andrew Fossa echoed the warnings from other officials.

 

He said: "I hate to say it like this - Pasco County's going to get a black eye from this one.

 

"We haven't seen a storm like this in a lifetime."

 

Amid the warnings from state officials, federal authorities are also readying their response to the hurricane.

White House spokesperson Emilie Simons said the Biden administration has established two staging bases stocked with 20 million meals and 40 million litres of water and has nearly 900 staff members in the region.

The hurricane is expected to come close to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula en route to striking Florida's densely populated coast late on Wednesday or early Thursday.

 

Once there, forecasters warned the storm could bring eight to 12ft (2.4-3.6m) storm surges, leading to further possible evacuation orders being issued along the Gulf Coast.

A stream of vehicles headed north on Interstate 75, the main road on the west side of the peninsula, as residents followed evacuation orders.

 

Meanwhile, traffic clogged up the southbound lanes of the road for miles as others headed for the relative safety of Fort Lauderdale and Miami on the other side of the state.

 

Air travel fared no better as by Tuesday afternoon, almost 700 flights had been cancelled, with that figure expected to rise as more than 1,500 flights scheduled for Wednesday were also cancelled, according to flight tracking data provider FlightAware.

 

I've seen it described as a once in a lifetime event. I genuinely feel for the people over there. Let's hope the authorities do a better job than they seem to be doing after Hurricane Helene. 

 

Your thoughts?

https://news.sky.com/story/hurricane-milton-florida-braces-for-storms-landfall-with-huge-evacuation-under-way-13230386

[HeHasRisen]

My thoughts are that it is a hurricane.

 

Cheers.

[butlers]

Hottest ever sea temps in the Gulf.

Never been 3 hurricanes active in the Atlantic region this time of the year also.

And ever more ,ever stronger hurricanes.

The  woeful leader of Florida has banned,indeed made state agencies strip the term  Global warming from documentaion.

 

[The_DADDY]

8 minutes ago, HeHasRisen said:

My thoughts are that it is a hurricane.

 

Cheers.

 

[crookesey]

Put yourself in their place, you lock up, shutter up, lights off etc, you might just as well put a sign on the door saying we’ve left for safety, enter scum bag burglars. Then where will you find safety, along with all those doing the same? I really feel for these folks, in case I appear to be heartless.

[cressida]

It's a place that I wouldn't choose to live,  I'm surprised people rate it.

[Bamanamanana]

34 minutes ago, butlers said:

Hottest ever sea temps in the Gulf.

Never been 3 hurricanes active in the Atlantic region this time of the year also.

And ever more ,ever stronger hurricanes.

The  woeful leader of Florida has banned,indeed made state agencies strip the term  Global warming from documentaion.

 

 

Furious officials say misinformation is harming hurricane response:

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/4922712-misinformation-hurricane-helene-recovery/

[cressida]

45 minutes ago, HeHasRisen said:

My thoughts are that it is a hurricane.

 

Cheers.

The Gods are angry,  Zeus is in my front garden looking very peeved.

[peak4]

Meanwhile, the crackpots are out in force; we've already seen the lies about FEMA

This Does Not Bode Well for the Election The Slate

The hurricane conspiracy theories spread by Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Marjorie Taylor Greene are really bad, even beyond their obvious danger.

[Baron99]

I heard Paul Hudson a couple of weeks ago discussing the world's weather on Radio Sheffield. 

 

Apparently at the start of the year forecasters were predicting that this would be a record breaking year for the number of hurricanes.  As Hudson stated, it's actually been one of the quietest hurricane seasons on record with up to about a month ago, only 3 hurricanes.  

 

Pity the poor people of Florida though, they've had 2 in about the last 10 days.