Tampa Mayor Jane Castor is warning residents ahead of Hurricane Milton that they will die if they remain in evacuation zones.
“The No. 1 message, as has been the case for the past few days, is that you need to be prepared and do whatever you have to do to get out of the evacuation zone.” caster said CNN's Caitlan Collins on Monday evening.
Floridians are bracing for Hurricane Milton, the first major hurricane to hit the Tampa area. Over a century.
Most of Florida's west coast is under a mandatory evacuation order. Castor noted that many Floridians have already left the area. For those planning to stay home, she urged them to reconsider.
“We may have done similar things in other places,” Castor said of past storms. “This has never happened before.”
“Helen has woken me up. This is literally devastating and I can say this without any dramatization that if you choose to stay in one of the evacuation zones you are going to die. ” she continued.
Milton is expected to make landfall on Florida's west coast late Wednesday night, according to the National Hurricane Center. By the time it makes landfall, it is expected to be a Category 3 hurricane, with wind speeds of up to 199 mph.
Storm surge of 10 to 15 feet is expected to occur in the Tampa and Sarasota areas of Florida.
The storm rapidly intensified in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this week, becoming a Category 5 storm as it headed towards Florida. It was downgraded to Category 4 as of early Tuesday.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Monday said the state suspended toll fees to facilitate evacuations, but Castor pointed to highways backing up as people leave town.
Milton comes just as Florida and other states are recovering from Hurricane Helen, which made landfall as a Category 4 storm.
