Hurricane Milton: Locals urged to evacuate amid rumours of airline price gouging and 'lack of fuel'

14.10.2024 - 21:26 / euronews.com / Joe Biden / Ron Desantis / Saskia ODonoghue / Kamala Harris

The Tampa Bay region on the west coast of Florida is preparing for a cataclysmic storm, touted as one of the most powerful in recent history. 

Hurricane Milton is set to hit from Wednesday and residents have been warned they’re at risk of catastrophic damage, flooded homes - and even death. 

Tampa’s Mayor, Jane Castor, speaking on CNN, did not hold back while urging residents to evacuate: "I can say without any dramatisation whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you're going to die." 

It’s not just Tampa which is at severe risk. St. Petersburg and densely populated areas on the Gulf of Mexico near the mouth of the bay are also likely to be in the immediate path. 

In fact, experts suggest the threat from storm surge extends some 240 kilometres to the north - into the state's Big Bend region - and the same distance to the south - to Naples and into the Florida Keys.

Two years ago, cities in the south saw devastation caused by Hurricane Ian, which washed away homes and made bridges to barrier islands impassable.

Wherever Milton lands, it will have an enormous impact, with flooding alone likely to be catastrophic. 

Here’s how Florida is trying to protect residents from Hurricane Milton.

Many of Florida's highways have seen wall-to-wall traffic this week, but local authorities warn that time for evacuations was running out on Wednesday. 

Jane Castor noted that up to 4.5 metres of predicted storm surge forecast for Tampa would easily be deep enough to swallow an entire house.

“So if you’re in it, basically that’s the coffin that you’re in,” she warned.

Ahead of the storm’s arrival, officials have been scrambling to remove piles of debris left in a recent storm, Hurricane Helene's, wake. There are fears that Milton could effectively turn loose wreckage into flying missiles. 

Despite publicly sparring with Vice President Kamala Harris, Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, announced that 300 dump trucks had successfully removed 1,300 loads of debris as of Wednesday.

Insisting that everyone who can should evacuate immediately, DeSantis also made it clear that those who defy such orders are “on their own” and that emergency services will not be expected to risk their own lives to carry out rescues at the height of the storm.

“You do not have to get on the interstate and go far away,” DeSantis said at a news conference, “You can evacuate tens of miles. You do not have to evacuate hundreds of miles away.”

President Joe Biden confirmed he was cancelling a trip to Germany and Angola to help with the aftermath of Milton. 

He announced that, for people who can’t leave Florida, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has almost 900 staff members in place in the region to assist. 

The White House also