Just go. That was the message Wednesday morning for Floridians still prepared to defy orders to evacuate ahead of the landfall of Hurricane Milton as officials warned stay-behinds they face grim survival odds.
Bumper-to-bumper traffic still chokes roads leading out of Tampa as some 17 percent of Florida’s nearly 8,000 gas stations had run out of fuel, according to fuel markets tracker GasBuddy.
The gridlock is so bad from the evacuations in these areas, such as I-75, that the state is opening the shoulders for vehicles to use.
Road signs herald the imminent impact of the Hurricane Milton as the evacuation zones cleared on October 8, 2024, in Port Richey, Florida. (AP/Mike Carlson)
AP reports the Tampa Bay area, home to more than 3.3 million people, faced the possibility of widespread destruction after avoiding direct hits from major hurricanes for upwards of 100 years.
The National Hurricane Center predicted Milton, a monstrous Category 5 hurricane during much of its approach, would likely weaken but remain a major hurricane when it makes landfall late Wednesday.
Milton was centered early Wednesday about 360 miles southwest of Tampa with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph, the National Hurricane Center reported.
As it closed in more than one million people in coastal areas remained under evacuation orders, those fleeing for higher ground battling clogged highways and shuttered gas stations, further rattling a region still recovering from the devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago.
An infographic titled “Hurricane Milton approaches Florida” created on October 9, 2024. (Yasin Demirci/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Officials from U.S. President Joe Biden to Tampa Mayor Jane Castor warned people in evacuation zones to get out or risk death, as Breitbart News reported.
More than a dozen coastal counties remain under mandatory evacuation orders, including Tampa’s Hillsborough County, Reuters reports.
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Pinellas County, which includes St. Petersburg, ordered the evacuation of more than 500,000 people. Lee County said 416,000 people lived in its mandatory evacuation zones.
Mobile homes, nursing homes and assisted living facilities also faced mandatory evacuation.