Hurricane-ravaged Florida is bracing for a direct hit from Hurricane Milton, which again intensified into a Category 5 hurricane on Tuesday, as US President Joe Biden urged residents to flee, warning it could hit the state in the century. The worst natural disaster could be to come. As the second major hurricane in as many weeks headed toward Florida’s west coast, a sense of impending doom spread and people scrambled to escape their homes.
“This is a matter of life and death, and that is not an exaggeration,” Biden said from the White House, urging people under the order to “evacuate now, now, now.”
I urge everyone in the path of Hurricane Milton to listen to local officials and follow all safety instructions.
If you are under evacuation orders you should evacuate now while it is still safe to do so.
This is a matter of life and death.
– President Biden (@POTUS) 8 October 2024
Thousands of federal personnel are deployed to the Southeast to provide needed resources as quickly as possible.
And my priority is to increase the size and presence of our efforts as we prepare for another potentially devastating hurricane to hit Florida.
– President Biden (@POTUS) 8 October 2024
Biden’s warning came amid a pre-election feud in which his Democratic vice president, Kamala Harris, rebuked his rival Donald Trump for making false claims that recovery efforts after the first hurricane, Hurricane Helene, were diverted from Republicans.
People in the path of Hurricane Milton:
Listen to local officials.
Evacuate while it is still safe to do so.
And if you can’t evacuate, find a shelter near you by texting SHELTER to 43362 and your zip code. pic.twitter.com/Rtt63NfOV2
– President Biden (@POTUS) 9 October 2024
By Tuesday, Milton returned to maximum Category 5 designation, producing maximum sustained winds of 165 mph (270 kph), the National Hurricane Center said.
“Milton is expected to fluctuate in intensity as it moves across the eastern Gulf of Mexico, but is expected to be a dangerous major hurricane when Milton reaches the west-central coast of Florida on Wednesday night,” the NHC said.
Governor Ron DeSantis at a news conference criticized city-by-city and county-by-county reports of those at risk.
“Basically the entire peninsula portion of Florida is under some type of watch or warning,” he said.
Airlines began additional flights from Tampa, Orlando, Fort Myers and Sarasota as highways were clogged with traffic and gas stations ran out of fuel.
walls of water
Hurricane expert Michael Lowry warned that in the Tampa area, where about three million people live, Milton’s storm “could double the storm surge levels seen two weeks earlier during Helene,” leading to widespread flooding.
Biden postponed a major trip to Germany and Angola to oversee the federal response, as hurricane relief efforts have emerged as a political battleground ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Trump took advantage of frustrations about the emergency response after Hurricane Helen and fueled it with disinformation, falsely claiming that disaster money was spent on migrants.
Biden on Tuesday slammed Trump’s comments as “un-American,” while presidential candidate Harris warned about the danger of misinformation leading to a federal response.
“This is disgusting. Don’t you have any empathy for other people’s suffering? If you claim to be a leader, don’t you have any sense of purpose?” He said this while directly challenging Trump with talk show host Stephen Colbert, which aired late on Tuesday night.
In a scene of frantic preparations repeated across Florida, dozens of cars lined up at a sports facility in Tampa to collect sandbags to protect their homes from flooding.
John Gomez, 75, ignored official advice and traveled all the way from Chicago to try to save his second home in Florida.
“I think it would be better to stay here if something happens,” Gomez said while waiting in line.
global warming a factor
Scientists say global warming plays a role in the intense storms as warmer sea surfaces release more water vapor, providing extra energy for storms, which in turn increases their winds.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday released footage of a specialist aircraft named “Miss Piggy” as it flew into the storm to gather data.
Paperwork, equipment and personal belongings were sent flying as wind and rain shook the plane.
On the ground, communities affected by Hurricane Helene, which struck Florida late last month, have rushed to remove debris that could become dangerous projectiles as it approaches Milton.
In Yucatán, Mexico, high winds downed trees and pylons, and heavy rains caused flooding, but the peninsula escaped major damage or casualties as the storm moved away from the coast.
Across the Southeastern United States, emergency workers are still struggling to provide relief after Helene, which killed at least 230 people in several states.
It struck the Florida coast as a major Category 4 hurricane on September 26, causing widespread flooding in remote inland towns in states to the north, including North Carolina and Tennessee.
Helen was the deadliest natural disaster to hit the mainland US since 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, with the death toll still rising.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
