Florida is gearing up for what could be its biggest evacuation in seven years as Hurricane Milton strengthens over warm waters and heads toward major population centers including Tampa and Orlando.
About 7 million people were urged to evacuate Florida in 2017 as Hurricane Irma bore down on the state. The exodus jammed freeways, led to hourslong lines at gas stations that still had fuel and left evacuees frustrated and, in some cases, vowing never to evacuate again,BBC reported.
Hurricane Milton was “moving erratically eastward through the southern Gulf of Mexico” early Monday morning and likely to become a major hurricane later in the day, the National Hurricane Center reported.
The storm was centered about 220 miles west-northwest of Progreso, Mexico, and 770 miles west-southwest of Tampa with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph while moving east at 6 mph, the hurricane center said.
While forecast models vary widely, the most likely path suggests Milton could make landfall Wednesday in the Tampa Bay area and remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida into the Atlantic Ocean. That would largely spare other southeastern states ravaged by Hurricane Helene, which caused catastrophic damage from Florida into the Appalachian Mountains and a death toll that rose Sunday to at least 230 people.
