Residents flee as Hurricane Milton takes aim at Florida

Florida residents streamed out of the Tampa Bay region yesterday ahead of Hurricane Milton.

Yesterday marked the last chance for millions of people in the Tampa metro area to prepare for lethal storm surges, ferocious winds and possible tornadoes in a place that has narrowly avoided a head-on blow from a major storm for generations.

“Today’s the last day to get ready,” said Craig Fugate, a former Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) director who previously ran the state’s emergency operation division. “This is bringing everything.”

Governor Ron DeSantis said the state deployed over 300 dump trucks that had removed 1,300 loads of debris left behind by Hurricane Helene. In Clearwater Beach, Nick Szabo spent a second long day hauling away 3-foot piles of soggy mattresses, couches and drywall after being hired by a local resident who was eager to help clear the roads and unwilling to wait for overwhelmed city contractors. “All this crap is going to be missiles,” he said. “It’s like a spear coming at you.”

After weakening slightly, Milton regained strength yesterday afternoon and became a Category 5 storm again, with winds of 165mph (265 kmph). It could make landfall on Wednesday night local time in the Tampa Bay area, which has a population of more than 3.3 million people.