Florida Braces as Hurricane Milton Gathers Strength

(TNS) — Gov. Ron DeSantis gave an update Monday on Hurricane Milton, which has already grown into a major Category 4 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico and is forecast to make landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

“This has gone slower than the projections were in terms of the how it’s moving toward Florida , and if that continues, it’s going to push back when landfall will happen,” DeSantis said from the State Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee noting it might be late Wednesday or early Thursday.

As of a special National Hurricane Center’s 9:05 update, Hurricane Milton had rapidly grown to a major Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph sustained winds located 735 miles southwest of Tampa and headed east-southeast at 8 mph.

The forecast cone has it potentially targeting the Sarasota to Tampa Bay area, but DeSantis warned that it could shift still.

“We don’t know exactly how it’s going to go. I know they say the eye is going to go here or here — that can move. When you’re talking about 30, 40, 50 miles north or south, that will make a huge difference in terms of who gets the worst surge, how much power is ended up taken out, and so we have no way of knowing how that’s going to shake out,” he said. “So the resources are being brought in, and the power restoration effort will begin as soon as it’s safe to do so.”

DeSantis said the storm’s intensity is forecast to drop back to Category 3, but still remain a major hurricane at landfall.

“We also have a storm that’s already very powerful now, the forecasts are that it’s going to peak before it reaches landfall, and then weaken. It is still going to be a strong storm,” he said. “We don’t know that that’s necessarily going to happen. And so this is something that’s going to be really, really significant one way or another.”

He also warned that the projections have it remaining at hurricane strength as it cross the state.

“It isn’t like it’s just going to be a rainstorm,” DeSantis said. “I mean, all the way until it exits the state is going to be powerful so please take the appropriate precautions, listen to your local officials, and we’ll get through this. We’ll respond very quickly, but, but this does have the potential to have a lot of damage.”

The latest forecast path consensus has it moving across southern Central Florida where it would still be a Category 1 storm with 85 mph sustained winds and 90 mph gusts, then exiting over Cape Canaveral in Brevard County into the Atlantic .

He was joined by Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie , Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue and Major General John D. Haas who leads the Florida National Guard.

A hurricane watch in Florida has been issued from Chokoloskee to the mouth of the Suwannee River including Tampa Bay and the Dry Tortugas while a storm surge watch is in effect for the Gulf Coast from Flamingo north to the Suwannee River , Charlotte Harbor and Tampa Bay .

The NHC began projecting storm surge along the Gulf Coast as high as 12 feet from the Anclote River north of Tampa south to Englewood including Tampa Bay , and as high as 10 feet from the Anclote River north to Yankeetown and from south of Englewood to Bonita Beach including Charlotte Harbor , as high as 7 feet from Bonita Beach south to Chokoloskee and as high as 5 feet from Yankeetown north to the Suwannee River.

Guthrie urged those in the surge danger area to heed evacuation orders.

“We’re talking about storm surge values higher than the ceiling,” Guthrie said. “Please. If you’re in the Tampa Bay area, you need to evacuate. If they have called for your evacuation order, I beg you, I implore you, to evacuate. Drowning deaths due to storm surge are 100% preventable if you leave.”

Evacuations on much of Florida’s west coast barrier islands will begin today, Guthrie said.

“We had situations where people died of drowning in Hurricane Ian. Had they just gone across the bridge from Estero Bay , Sanibel Island and so on, just across the bridge to the first available shelter that had capacity, they’d still be alive today,” he said.

DeSantis said evacuation orders are likely to begin today and storm shelters will begin to open soon after.

Tolls today will be removed form western Florida and Central Florida roads as well as Alligator Alley.

DeSantis had declared a state of emergency for 51 of the state’s 67 counties, up from 34 declared on Saturday.

The updated list includes Alachua , Baker , Bradford , Brevard , Broward , Charlotte , Citrus , Clay , Collier , Columbia , DeSoto , Dixie , Duval , Flagler , Gilchrist , Glades , Hamilton , Hardee , Hendry , Hernando , Highlands , Hillsborough , Indian River , Lafayette , Lake , Lee , Levy , Madison , Manatee , Marion , Martin , Miami-Dade , Monroe , Nassau , Okeechobee , Orange , Osceola , Palm Beach , Pasco , Pinellas , Polk , Putnam , Sarasota , Seminole , St. Johns , St. Lucie Sumter , Suwanee, Taylor , Union , and Volusia counties.

He said the state had made a prelandfall declaration request from the Federal Emergency Management Agency , and expects to get that.

His state declaration ordered all landfills and similar sites to be open 24 hours to deal with the massive amounts of debris leftover from Hurricane Helene.

“We had a lot of debris left from Hurricane Helene on Florida’s Gulf Coast that creates a huge hazard if you have a major hurricane hit in that area this week,” he said. “So we’ve marshaled state assets to be able to help with that mission, and we’re going to continue to do that until it’s no longer safe to do so.”

He said just in the last 24 hours, the state in one of the hardest hit areas has removed almost 500 truckloads totaling more than 9,000 cubic yards of debris.

“That’s just from the barrier islands in Pinellas County , bringing to the debris landfills. We have over 200 state assets, dump trucks, other types of trucks and vehicles to be able to do, but keeping it 24/7, is important,” he said.

Other preparations by the Division of Emergency Management include truckloads of food and water to Central Florida as prep to move to distribution sites after the storm.

He said more than 2,000 feet of flood protection systems have been deployed to critical infrastructure such as hospitals, wastewater treatment facilities and electrical infrastructure.

“We’ve deployed a flood barrier around a water pumping station in Bradenton , a fire station in Hillsborough , and more en route to the courthouse in Charlotte County , hospital in Kissimmee , master pump station in St Pete and a community resource center in Hernando County,” DeSantis said. “We’ve also deployed generators to support special needs sheltering operations, and, of course, Starlink internet. All counties have access to that, and we’re deploying more as needed.”

He said more than 200 ambulances and other emergency transport are staged in Central Florida ready to support first responder situations.

He said the state has 415,000 gallons of diesel and 389,000 gallons of gasoline on hand with another 1.5 million gallons combine on the way.

‘I know there’s different things that are being said, but all fuel continues to arrive at Florida ports, there has not been an interruption of that,” he said. “I know people are going to fill up their gas tanks, which is a good thing. There’s more lines than maybe that we’re used to on some of these, but there has not been an interruption in fuel deliveries. And all the ports are checked in on that.”

DeSantis said 800 National Guardsmen were deployed already helping state agency prep work.

“We currently have 5000 guardsmen that are mobilized for the response to this storm, and we have more than 3,000 additional Guardsmen who will be mobilized prior to landfall,” he said. “National Guard is also deploying heavy equipment to assist with debris removal, including Army and Air Force , horizontal construction units, tactical high water vehicles, dump trucks and front-end loaders.”

Power restoration will be a challenge with many linemen crews assisting in North Carolina and Georgia because of Hurricane Helene.

“They’re bringing people in from far and wide to be able to respond accordingly this path of this storm,” DeSantis said.

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