Florida authorities are increasing calls on Tuesday to evacuate the population before the arrival of Milton, an “extremely dangerous” hurricane which is expected to reach the coasts of this peninsula in the southeast of the United States, overnight from Wednesday to Thursday.
Already affected by the destructive passage of Helene ten days ago, “the entire Florida peninsula is under either a form of surveillance or alert,” warned the governor of the state, Ron DeSantis, on Tuesday.
“Helene 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 to 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 2 p.m. (Swiss time) on 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. Milton is “the worst” storm to hit the Tampa area in more than 100 years, according to the NHC.
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.
