TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Milton hurled tornadoes and rain at the U.S. coast Wednesday on the storm’s steady, potentially catastrophic march toward Florida, where officials issued a final plea to residents to evacuate or face grim odds of survival.
The National Hurricane Center stressed that it was not certain where Milton’s center would come ashore Wednesday night because the storm’s path might “wobble,” but the entire Tampa Bay region and points south were at grave risk. Tropical storm-force winds were just off the coast around midday, the center said.
“This is it, folks,” said Cathie Perkins, emergency management director in Pinellas County, which sits on the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay. “Those of you who were punched during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out, and you need to get out now.”
Tropical storm-force winds began lashing the coast Wednesday afternoon.
Milton, which has fluctuated in intensity as it approaches Florida, was a strong Category 4 hurricane at midday Wednesday. It was expected to remain a hurricane after hitting land and plowing across the state, including the heavily populated Orlando area, through Thursday.
Tampa Bay, near the top of a long stretch of coastline that could be in the bull’s-eye, has not taken a direct hit from a major hurricane in more than a century.
Residents should not feel relief because of indications Milton might come ashore south of Tampa, Perkins said: “Everybody in Tampa Bay should assume we are going to be ground zero.”
Milton threatened communities still reeling two weeks after Hurricane Helene flooded streets and homes in western Florida and left at least 230 people dead across the South. In many places along the coast, municipalities raced to collect and dispose of debris before Milton’s winds and storm surge could toss it around and compound any damage.
The surge was projected to reach as high as 12 feet (3.6 meters) in Tampa Bay and up to 12 feet (3.6 meters) farther south, between Sarasota and Fort Myers.
Mary Ann Fairman, 84, was among roughly 1,000 people at a shelter in West Bradenton. She stayed home during Helene but packed up blankets, snacks and toiletries and left this time.
“The Gulf is practically in our backyard,” she said.
In Pasco County, home to over half a million people in bedroom communities for Tampa and St. Petersburg, officials said shortly before noon that they were getting ready to take buses off the road.
“This is your last chance if you need to get to a shelter,” they said in a statement. “After that, you’ll need to find a way to the shelter or be prepared to ride out the storm.”
The famous Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which spans the mouth of Tampa Bay, closed around midday. Other major bridges also closed.
“Yesterday I said the clock was ticking. Today I’m saying the alarm bell is really going off. People need to get to their safe place,” said Ken Graham, director of the National Weather Service.
