Tampa Mayor Jane Castor issued a blunt warning to those who are not heeding evacuation orders as Hurricane Milton barrels toward the west central coast of Florida, making it clear to those residents that they cannot compete with catastrophic storm surge, putting it this way: Your home will be your coffin.
Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall late Wednesday night into early Thursday evening just south of Tampa, and evacuation orders have been underway as the National Hurricane Center (NHC) is warning of storm surge up as high as 15 feet in some areas.
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“A large area of destructive storm surge is expected along a portion of the west-central coast of the Florida Peninsula,” it warns.
“If you are in the Storm Surge Warning area, this is an extremely life-threatening situation. The time to evacuate is quickly coming to a close,” it warns.
Mayor Castor sent a similar message.
“I’ve said many times that you want to pick a fight with Mother Nature, she’s winning 100 percent of the time,” Castor warned, adding some perspective to these figures.
“And individuals that are in these, say you’re in a single-story home. Twelve feet is above that house. So, if you’re in it, you know, basically that’s the coffin you’re in,” she said.
This is not the first blunt warning Castor has delivered. During a Monday interview, she warned, “I can say without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you’re going to die.” Castor added that she has never issued that kind of warning before.
According to CNN’s Paul Murphy, a police chief reiterated, “If you stay, they cannot get you.” Murphy said officials are also telling individuals who are staying to write their name and date of birth on their arm, anticipating a horrific outcome.
“It’s that same message we’re hearing from officials: Write your name, write your number, write someone else’s number, your date of birth on you,” Murphy said. “Because when they come looking for you, they want to know who to contact because you decided to stay.”
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On Wednesday morning, Gov. Ron DeSantis said there is still time for people to evacuate, making it clear that they do not have to go far to find safety.
“All those counties have multiple shelters that are open. There’s a lot of space in those shelters right now, and certainly would be safe to do a very short evacuation tens of miles, rather than get on the interstate and go the roads are still open,” he said.
An 11 a.m. Eastern update from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) added this warning: “If you are in the Storm Surge Warning area, this is an extremely life-threatening situation. The time to evacuate, if told to do so by local officials, is quickly coming to a close.”
Latest 11 a.m. Eastern track below: