Hurricane Milton is Category 5. Florida orders evacuation

BELLEAIR BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Milton quickly strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday Towards Floridathreatening a dangerous storm surge in Tampa Bay, prompting evacuation orders and long gas lines and adding greater urgency to the Hurricane Helene cleanup effort flooded the same stretch of coast less than two weeks ago.

A hurricane warning was issued for parts of the Mexican state of Yucatan, with flooding expected, and much of Florida's west coast was under a hurricane and storm surge watch. Lake Okeechobee in Florida, which often floods during severe storms, was also under a hurricane watch.

“This is the real deal here with Milton,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said at a news conference. “If you want to take on Mother Nature, she wins 100% of the time.”

Compact Milton rapidly strengthened Monday and was expected to strengthen into a major hurricane over the eastern Gulf. According to the National Hurricane Center, maximum sustained winds were 160 mph (257 km/h). The center of the storm was about 130 miles (210 kilometers) west-northwest of Progreso, Mexico, and about 720 miles (1,160 kilometers) southwest of Tampa as of midday Monday, moving east at a speed of 9 miles per hour (15 km/h). to the southeast.

His center could land on Wednesday Tampa Bay area, and it could remain a hurricane as it moves over central Florida toward the Atlantic. That would largely spare other states devastated by Helenein which at least 230 people died on the way from Florida to the Appalachians.

Meteorologists warned of a possible storm surge of 8 to 12 feet (2.4 to 3.6 meters) in Tampa Bay and said flash flooding and river flooding from 5 to 10 inches (13 to 25 centimeters) of rain could occur in mainland Florida and the Keys could result. with some up to 15 inches (38 centimeters).

The Tampa Bay area is still recovering from Helene and its strong recovery. Twelve people died, with the worst damage occurring along a series of barrier islands from St. Petersburg to Clearwater.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday it was imperative that Helene's remains be disposed of before Milton's arrival so they don't become projectiles. More than 300 vehicles picked up debris on Sunday but encountered a locked landfill gate while trying to dump it. State troopers used a rope tied to a pickup truck and blew it open, DeSantis said.

“We don’t have time for bureaucracy and bureaucracy,” DeSantis said.

“There will be flying rockets”

Lifeguards in Pinellas County, on the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay, removed beach chairs and other items that could blow away in high winds. Elsewhere, tons of stoves, chairs, refrigerators and kitchen tables were waiting to be picked up.

Sarah Steslicki, who lives in Belleair Beach, said she was frustrated that more debris hadn't been picked up sooner.

“They screwed up and didn't pick up the debris, and now they're trying to pick it up,” Steslicki said Monday morning. “If this one hits, it will be flying missiles. Things will float and fly in the air.”

Hillsborough County, home to Tampa, ordered the evacuation of areas bordering Tampa Bay and all mobile and manufactured homes by Tuesday evening.

“Yeah, that stinks. We know this, and it comes on the heels of many of us still recovering from Hurricane Helene,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister. “But if you protect your families, you will be alive.”

Reluctance to evacuate

Milton's approach brought back memories of Hurricane Irma in 2017, when about seven million people were forced to evacuate Florida in a mass exodus that clogged highways and clogged gas stations. Some people who left vowed never to evacuate again.

As of Monday morning, some gas stations in the Tampa area had already run out of gas. Fuel continued to arrive in Florida, and the state had stockpiled hundreds of thousands of gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel with many more on the way, DeSantis said.

Although Tanya Marunchak's Belleair Beach Helene home was flooded with more than 4 feet (1.2 meters) of water, she and her husband were unsure Monday morning whether to evacuate. She wanted to leave, but her husband thought their three-story house was strong enough to withstand Milton.

“We lost all our cars and all our furniture; the first floor was completely destroyed,” Marunchak said. “This is the strangest weather situation ever.”

If residents don't evacuate, it could endanger first responders or make rescues impossible: “If you stay there, you could die and my men and women could die trying to save you,” Hillsborough Fire Chief Jason Dougherty said.

Why did Milton intensify so quickly?

Milton's increase in wind speed of 92 miles per hour (148 km/h) in 24 hours exceeds only that of Hurricane Wilma in 2005 and Hurricane Felix in 2007. One reason Milton strengthened so quickly is its small size a “pinhole eye,” just like Wilma's, said Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane researcher at Colorado State University.

The storm will likely have to go through a so-called eyewall replacement cycle, a natural process that forms a new eye and makes the storm bigger but weakens its wind speeds, Klotzbach said.

The Gulf of Mexico is currently unusually warm, so “the fuel is just there,” and Milton likely passed over a particularly warm vortex that helped make it worse, said University at Albany hurricane researcher Kristen Corbosiero .

The hurricane center is forecasting slight weakening before it hits Florida. The last hurricane to be a Category 5 when it made landfall on the U.S. mainland was Michael in 2018.

Cancellations in Florida and Mexico

The University of Central Florida in Orlando said it would close during the week, but Walt Disney World said operations were running normally for now. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers planned to move operations to the New Orleans area for the remainder of the week ahead of the NFL game against the Saints, and the Tampa Bay Lightning's NHL game on Monday against the Nashville Predators was canceled.

All road tolls have been suspended in West Central Florida. St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport said it would close after the last flight on Tuesday, and Tampa International Airport said it planned to suspend airline and cargo flights starting Tuesday morning.

All classes and school activities in Pinellas County, home to St. Petersburg, were closed Monday through Wednesday and schools were converted into shelters. Officials in Tampa made city-owned garages available to residents in hopes of protecting their cars from flooding.

The Mexican coastal state of Yucatan canceled classes along the coast after forecasters predicted Milton would reach the northern part of the state. The cancellations included the Gulf Coast's most populous cities, such as Progreso; the capital Merida; and the Celestun Nature Reserve, known for its flamingos.

It has been two decades since Florida was hit by so many storms in such a short period of time. In 2004, Florida was hit by five storms in six weeks, including three hurricanes that devastated central Florida.

Although Tampa hasn't been directly hit by a hurricane in over a century, other parts of Florida's Gulf Coast have been recovering from such storms in the last two years. The Fort Myers region of southwest Florida is still rebuilding from Hurricane Ian, which caused $112 billion in damage in 2022. Three hurricanes have struck Florida's Big Bend region in just 13 months, including Helene.

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Schneider reported from Orlando. Associated Press writers Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale, Seth Borenstein in Washington and Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee contributed to this report