“Hélène was a wake-up call, it’s literally catastrophic,” Jane Castor, the mayor of the large city of Tampa, said on CNN on Monday. “I can say this without any drama: if you choose to stay in one of the evacuation zones, you will die. »
Generators, food, water and tarps are being distributed across Florida and many residents are protecting their homes or planning to leave.
“You have time to leave. So, please do it,” the Republican governor urged residents of at-risk areas on Monday.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that Milton was “an extremely dangerous hurricane”, category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale after having previously been classified as category 5, the highest.
The NHC called on residents to “prepare today for the arrival of Milton and evacuate if requested by authorities.”
Milton is expected to make landfall in Florida, the third most populous state in the United States, overnight from Wednesday to Thursday.
At 12:00 GMT Tuesday, the hurricane was located in the Gulf of Mexico 880 km from Tampa, with winds reaching more than 230 km/h.
“Devastating waves” and a “life-threatening storm” are expected Tuesday along the northern coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, the NHC warned.
Intensification rapide
Milton is “the worst” storm to hit the Tampa area in more than 100 years, according to the NHC.
Climate change makes rapid intensification of storms more likely and increases the risk of more powerful hurricanes by warming sea and ocean waters, scientists say.
Temperatures in the North Atlantic have been evolving continuously for more than a year at record heat levels, well above historical records, according to public data from the American Meteorological Observatory (NOAA).
And NOAA warned at the end of May that the hurricane season, which extends from the beginning of June to the end of November, was shaping up to be an extraordinary year in the region.
The southeastern United States is barely recovering from Helen, a devastating hurricane that caused flooding and considerable damage in half a dozen states, causing at least 234 deaths. Emergency services are still working to help the many victims.
In the middle of the presidential campaign, Republican candidate Donald Trump was quick to accuse the federal state, led by Democrats, of having done too little, too late, to provide assistance to the victims.
“Playing political games right now, in these crisis situations – we are at the height of it – is simply irresponsible and selfish,” criticized her rival in the November 5 election Kamala Harris.
