In the Yucatan, workers barricaded doors and windows, fishermen returned their boats to port and local authorities ordered the closure of schools and non-essential activities.
Although the hurricane is not expected to make landfall in Mexico, “torrential rain and winds are expected,” new president Claudia Sheinbaum warned on X.
In Florida, Milton is causing a lot of concern, less than two weeks after the particularly devastating passage of Hurricane Helene in the southeast of the country.
On Treasure Island, a small island of 6,500 inhabitants in the Gulf of Mexico, David Levitsky is preparing for the arrival of the storm.
– “Take the road” –
“Last time, people’s cars were under water, here, in the street (…) but obviously this time the biggest problem for us will be the wind,” this retiree from 69 year old trying to protect his house using sandbags.
In a press conference on Monday, Republican Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis clarified that Milton would remain a hurricane throughout its passage from Florida from southwest to northeast.
On Sunday, he extended the state of emergency declared the day before to 51 counties out of the 67 in this state, the third most populous in the United States.
“If anyone has the means to do it (…) hit the road today,” Florida authorities also urged.
In Orlando, a city with many amusement parks in the center of the state, hundreds of cars waited under a gray sky for a distribution of sandbags.
“It is possible that we will evacuate, my animals and I,” Tony Carlson, 32, told AFP, piling sandbags in his vehicle. He is thinking of going to Georgia, a neighboring state to the north, where his sister lives.
Dominick Tucciarone, 29, has not planned to evacuate but admits to being worried.
“I am, because it has been a long time since the eye of a hurricane passed over Orlando and because it is growing in the Gulf,” he told AFP.
– Deadliest since 2005 –
By warming sea and ocean waters, climate change makes rapid intensification of storms more likely and increases the risk of more powerful hurricanes, 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).
The American meteorological observatory 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, with the possibility of four to seven Category 3 or more hurricanes.
In the south-east of the country, emergency services are still hard at work to help the many victims of Hurricane Helene, the deadliest to hit the United States since Katrina in 2005.
It left at least 230 dead across half a dozen states in the southeast of the country – including at least 15 in Florida – and caused destructive floods.
President Joe Biden called on Sunday “all Florida residents to listen to local officials and prepare accordingly.”
Reiterating his commitment to supporting “as long as it takes” the disaster-stricken regions of the southeast, the American president also announced the deployment of 500 additional soldiers to North Carolina, the state most affected by Hurricane Helene. with at least 120 dead.
In total, 1,500 soldiers were mobilized, in addition to thousands of rescuers and members of the National Guard, a reserve force.
