Hurricane Milton approaches/ Florida residents flee to escape

2024-10-09 08:26:52, Kosova & Bota CNA

Hurricane Milton approaches/ Florida residents flee to escape

Residents of the city of Naples, Florida, drive toward Miami on October 8, 2024, as Hurricane Milton approaches.

Florida residents don't have much time left to evacuate or shelter in place before Hurricane Milton hits, predicted to be one of the most destructive to ever hit Florida's Gulf Coast.

With more than a million residents in coastal areas under evacuation orders, those fleeing to higher ground blocked highways and gas stations in the region still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago. .

The storm is expected to hit the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, home to more than three million people, although forecasters said its path could change before making landfall late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, depending on the weather. local.

US President Joe Biden and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor warned people in evacuation zones to leave or risk death.

Michael Tylenda, who was visiting his son in Tampa, said he was responding to the advice.

"If anyone knows anything about Florida... when you don't evacuate when you're ordered to, you're likely to die," Tylenda said. "There have been many people who have stayed in their homes and ended up drowning. It's not worth it. The house can be replaced. Things can be replaced. So it's better to leave the city."

Milton is expected to maintain hurricane strength as it crosses the Florida peninsula, also bringing a storm risk to the state's Atlantic coast.

About 2.8 percent of U.S. gross domestic product is in Milton's direct path, said Ryan Sweet, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. Airlines, energy companies and a Universal Studios park are among the companies that have halted operations in Florida as they prepare for disruptions.

Milton became the third-fastest intensifying storm in Atlantic history, going from Category 1 to Category 5 in less than 24 hours.

"These unusually warm sea surface temperatures provide the necessary fuel for the rapid intensification that we saw happen," said climate scientist Daniel Gilford of Climate Central, a nonprofit research group. "We know that as humans increase the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, primarily by burning fossil fuels, we are increasing that temperature across the planet."

Heavy traffic blocked roads leading out of Tampa on Tuesday as about 17 percent of Florida's nearly 8,000 gas stations ran out of supplies, according to fuel market monitor GasBuddy./ REL