Florida. Hurricane Milton is coming – what's the situation

Center storm on Wednesday at 2 p.m. local time, it was located about 240 kilometers southwest of Tampa – a city on the west coast of Florida. Milton weakened, becoming a category 4 hurricane on the five-point Saffir-Simpson scale, still very powerful. The wind reaches speeds of up to 215 kilometers per hour. A few hours earlier, the speed was 250 km/h.

The National Hurricane Center predicts that the hurricane will make landfall along Florida's west-central coast on Wednesday night into Thursday (in Poland it will be Thursday morning) and will move away from the eastern coast of Florida towards the Atlantic Ocean. The element brings extreme winds, downpours and life-threatening storm waves. According to experts, its devastating effects will be felt over a large area.

Milton is expected to maintain hurricane strength as it passes through Florida and will create a storm threat on the state's Atlantic coast as well. While wind speeds may decrease, the wind size increases, threatening more coastal areas.

A storm surge was observed off the coast of Florida – the powerful winds brought by the hurricane push the ocean waters onto dry land. Milton has also spawned several tornadoes, and heavy rain and thunderstorms are occurring.

According to the sheriff of Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, time is running out to escape the effects of Hurricane Milton.

“If you are in an evacuation zone, the time to get out is now,” County Sheriff Chad Chronister said Wednesday morning. – We saw floods here early in the morning. It will only get worse. This storm is undecided, we don't know how high the storm surge will be, he added.

Vice President Kamala Harris urged residents in Hurricane Milton's path to follow authorities' evacuation orders. She added that officials expect the storm to be “catastrophic and deadly.”

“This storm is unlike anything we've seen before,” Harris said in a telephone interview with CNN. – We have a lot of strong people in Florida who have been through many hurricanes, tornadoes, but this is not something they have dealt with before – she added.

Harris added that anyone told to evacuate must do so.

Reuters quotes Michael Tylenda as visiting his son in Tampa. In his opinion, the evacuation order should not be ignored.

“If anyone knows anything about Florida, they know that if you don't evacuate when you are ordered to do so, you could die,” Tylenda said. – House and things can be replaced. It's better to just leave the city, he added.

Sarasota County Emergency Management Chief Sandra Tapfumaneyi told CNN that people who remain on the barrier islands south of Tampa likely will not survive the forecast storm with high waves.

– If you decide to stay, make sure you have a life preserver at hand – she appealed.

The US president approved the declaration of a state of emergency in Florida, and the White House announced on Tuesday that Joe Biden had postponed a visit to Germany and Angola to monitor the situation on the ground.

“This could be the worst storm to hit Florida in over a century,” the president said.

Eleven counties in Florida, home to 5.9 million people, are under mandatory evacuation orders. Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state dispatched more than 300 dump trucks, which by Tuesday afternoon had removed 1,300 loads of debris left behind by Hurricane Helene.

– All this garbage will be missiles. It's like a spear heading towards you,” DeSantis compared, quoted by the Associated Press news agency.

Mayors of individual counties are appealing to residents not to ignore the threat and leave their homes.

– It's not too late. Get in your car, cross the bridge and seek shelter, said Belleair Beach Mayor Dave Gattis.

In turn, the mayor of Tampa – one of the most endangered areas – emphasized that storm waves with a height of 4.5 meters can flood and destroy houses.

“So if you're inside, it's basically a coffin,” Jane Coster warned.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra declared a public health emergency in Florida on Tuesday to address the potential health impacts of Hurricane Milton.

“We will do everything we can to help Florida authorities respond to the health impacts of Hurricane Milton,” Becerra said Tuesday.

This is the second such incident in Florida in the last two weeks. Previously, a public health emergency was declared in connection with Hurricane Helene.

More than 17 percent of Florida's nearly 16,000 gas stations are out of fuel as residents and tourists scramble to refuel their vehicles as the hurricane approaches, local media report.

Due to the threat to health and life, a curfew has been introduced in some cities and counties, which will come into force from the evening hours on Wednesday.