“If you choose to stay, you will die”: Florida facing Hurricane Milton

Florida authorities are increasing calls on Tuesday to leave before the arrival of Milton, an “extremely dangerous” hurricane which is due to make landfall during the night from Wednesday to Thursday and which could be “the worst storm” to hit this peninsula “in one century,” according to Joe Biden.

Already affected by Helene’s destructive passage ten days ago, entire peninsula of Florida is under some form of watch or alertwarned state Governor Ron DeSantis on Tuesday.

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that Milton was an extremely dangerous hurricane. It returned to category 5, the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale with winds that could exceed 260 km/h, late Tuesday afternoon.

Milton could be Florida’s worst storm in a centurydeclared Tuesday Joe Biden, on the sidelines of a meeting with his advisers at the White House to take stock of the preparations.

You must evacuate the premises now, it’s a matter of life and deathalso launched the American president to the inhabitants of the third state in the country in terms of population.

His vice-president Kamala Harris followed suit by asking residents to take local officials seriously.

Floridians, you are tenacious people who have suffered a lot, but this is going to be differentalerted on the channel ABC the Democratic candidate in the November 5 presidential election.

A sign of the seriousness of the situation, the White House announced that Joe Biden had decided not to go as planned at the end of the week to Germany, then to Angola.

The hurricane, which is moving from southwest to northeast in the Gulf of Mexico, is expected to make landfall in Florida overnight from Wednesday to Thursday.

Its passage Tuesday off the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, caused no casualties, only causing some material damage.

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 continuously evolving for more than a year at record levels of heat, according to data from the American Meteorological Observatory (NOAA).

I can say this without any dramatization: if you choose to stay in one of the evacuation zones, you will diedeclared Monday on CNN Jane Castor, the mayor of the large city of Tampa, Florida.

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According to weather expert Michael Lowry, If the worst forecasts come true for the Tampa Bay region, coastal flooding from Milton could be double that seen two weeks ago during Helene.

Milton strengthened on Monday at a breakneck paceone of fastest ever observed in the Atlantic basinhe added.

Generators, food, water and tarps are being distributed across Florida and many residents plan to leave.

In Tampa, dozens of cars line up to collect sandbags to try to protect homes from expected flooding.

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Chicago resident John Gomez decided to come to Tampa to watch over his second home during the hurricane.

If I’m in Chicago and something happens, there’s nothing I can dodeclared to theAFP this septuagenarian who came to collect sand.

In line, Luis Santiago says he fears that everything is flooded.

His house is located near the coast, in an evacuation zone decreed by the authorities, and this 43-year-old man wants to protect it before heading inland to escape danger.

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The southeastern United States is still recovering from Helene, a devastating hurricane that caused widespread flooding and damage in half a dozen states, killing at least 234 people.

Emmanuel Parks, a 36-year-old pastor, says he is also preparing to leave Tampa and wait for Milton to stay in a hotel. With Helene, the water was up to my hips, so I think this time, as soon as I finish work, I’ll pick up my family and head inlandhe told AFP.

In Orlando, a large tourist city in central Florida, Disney announced the closure of its theme parks from 1 p.m. (local time) on Wednesday.

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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 Helene victims.

The Republican had notably accused the Democrats of having stole the money of the federal natural disaster response agency (FEMA), so they can give it to their illegal immigrants.

Her rival in the November 5 election, Kamala Harris, castigated these statements on Tuesday: This is the height of irresponsibility and frankly insensitivitydeclared the vice-president on ABC.

She had already accused the ex-president of play political games around Hurricane Helene.