Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said Tuesday that Tampa residents have a life or death choice as Florida prepares for the coming of Hurricane Milton.
Noting that Tampa is currently predicted to have a 10 to 12-foot tidal surge, Castor said residents cannot expect to survive such an inundation.
“I can tell you right now they might have done that in others, there’s never been one like this,” Castor said in a CNN interview posted to YouTube.
“Helene was a wakeup call, this is literally catastrophic,” she added.
“And I can say without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you’re gonna die,” she said. CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins was taken aback by the warning, which the mayor said she has never given before.
Castor said the scope of the predictions is unprecedented.
“This is something that I’ve never seen in my life and I can tell you anyone born and raised in the Tampa Bay area has never seen anything like this before,” she said. “People need to get out.”
The radar and infrared satellite images of Hurricane Milton reveal areas of reflectivity maxima, indicating where radar detects the highest concentrations of precipitation within the storm.
In the satellite image, the darkest reds and blacks highlight the storm’s most intense… pic.twitter.com/JM148BCavO
— CosmicRewind🚀 (@TomorrowVenture) October 8, 2024
Have you even had to evacuate your home?
“If we have this predicted storm surge, this is not survivable,” she reiterated.
The National Hurricane Center is predicting that Milton, which is expected to become a Category 5 storm, will hit the west coast of Florida Wednesday night, although hurricane conditions will hit the coast Wednesday afternoon.
The center predicts the east coast of Florida will also feel the brunt of Milton’s winds as the storm passes across the state Wednesday.
Milton could become among most destructive hurricanes for west-central Florida, including Tampa, NHC warns https://t.co/lwJ1qCDc5w #FoxWeather
— Fearless45 (@Fearless45Trump) October 8, 2024
Storm surge estimates posted Tuesday morning predict Tampa could see water 10 to 15 feet above normal.
Central and northern Florida is predicted to get between five and 12 inches of rain, with some areas receiving 18 inches of rain.
🚨BREAKING🚨
Evacuation Underway!
Hurricane Milton is now a massive Cat 5 Hurricane as it approaches Florida. It has triggered the largest evacuation orders in Florida since 2017. Northbound highways have been jammed back with evacuees heading north of the hurricane’s path.… pic.twitter.com/IRn5sIEc2k— John Cremeans USA (@JohnCremeansUSA) October 8, 2024
“Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida,” the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday, according to the Weather Channel.
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