As Hurricane Milton nears Florida, Canadians urged to ‘avoid non-essential’ travel

The Florida peninsula may not be a stranger to extreme weather, but Tampa Bay has managed to avoid getting hit directly by a hurricane since 1921.

That could change on Wednesday with Hurricane Milton, spurring the Canadian government to issue a travel advisory for the entire peninsula, including Tampa Bay, and urging Canadians to “avoid non-essential travel” around the region.

The advisory for the west coast of the Florida peninsula spanned from Chokoloskee to the mouth of the Suwanee River, including Tampa Bay, Lake Okeechobee and the Dry Tortugas. The warning for the east coast was for the St. Lucie/Indian River County Line northward to the mouth of the St. Marys River.

“Hurricane Milton is expected to sweep across various locations on Florida’s west and east coasts between October 8 and 9, 2024,” Canada’s advisory read.

It added that the storm is likely to bring excessive rainfall and violent winds, which could cause flash flooding and landslides, disrupting essential services like transportation, power, water and food supply, communications, emergency services and medical care.

Canadians already in the affected region were urged to exercise caution, monitor local news and weather reports and follow the instructions of local authorities.

Tampa International Airport suspended flight services at 9 a.m. eastern on Tuesday ahead of the expected impact of Hurricane Milton. Authorities said in a social media post that the airport would “reopen when safe to do so.”

Airport authorities asked travellers to check directly with airlines for any updates and warned that the airport was not a place to shelter for people or vehicles.

Hurricane Milton weakened slightly Tuesday but remained a ferocious storm that could land a once-in-a-century direct hit on the populous Tampa Bay region with towering storm surges and turn debris from Helene’s devastation 12 days ago into projectiles.

Almost the entirety of Florida’s west coast was under a hurricane or tropical storm warning as the storm and its 145 m.p.h. (230 km/h) winds spun just off Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, heading toward the state at 12 m.p.h. (19 km/h) and sucking energy from the Gulf of Mexico’s warm waters.

Milton’s centre could come ashore Wednesday night in the Tampa Bay area, which has a population of more than 3.3 million people. The county that’s home to Tampa ordered evacuations for areas adjacent to the bay and for all mobile and manufactured homes by Tuesday night.

The United States National Weather Service said in a social media post that the storm surge was not just a coastal threat, but could travel up through inland waterways.

“Do you live near a river, canal or creek? As Hurricane Milton approaches the Florida West Coast, please keep in mind that storm surge can travel inland up these waterways,” the NWS warned.

“You do not have to get on the interstate and go far away,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a Tuesday morning news briefing, assuring residents that there would be enough gas to fuel their cars for the trip. “You can evacuate tens of miles; you do not have to evacuate hundreds of miles away. You do have options.”

DeSantis said the state has helped evacuate more than 200 health-care facilities in Milton’s path and that 36 county-run shelters are open. The state has also been scrambling to remove debris from recent Hurricane Helene, lest the messes become projectiles when Milton strikes. He said the state has deployed more than 300 dump trucks that are working around the clock and have removed 1,200 loads of debris.

Lifeguards on the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay removed beach chairs and other items that could take flight in strong winds. Elsewhere, stoves, chairs, refrigerators and kitchen tables waited in heaps to be picked up. Sarah Steslicki, who lives in Belleair Beach, said she was frustrated that more debris had not been collected sooner.

The National Hurricane Center downgraded Milton early Tuesday to a Category 4 hurricane, but forecasters said it still posed “an extremely serious threat to Florida.” Milton had intensified quickly Monday, becoming a Category 5 storm at midday with maximum sustained winds of 180 m.p.h. (285 km/h) before being downgraded.

Forecasters warned that Milton could bring a 10- to 15-foot (three- to 4.5-metre) storm surge to Tampa Bay, leading to evacuation orders being issued for beach communities all along the Gulf Coast. In Florida, that means anyone who stays is on their own and first responders are not expected to risk their lives to rescue them at the height of the storm.

Milton is forecast to remain an extremely dangerous hurricane through landfall and as it makes its way across central Florida toward the Atlantic Ocean with rainfall totals as high as 18 inches (20 centimetres) possible, according to the hurricane centre. Parts of the state’s eastern coast were put under hurricane and tropical storm warnings early Tuesday.

That path would largely spare other states ravaged by Helene, which killed at least 230 people on its path from Florida to the Appalachian Mountains.

Tampa Bay has not been hit directly by a major hurricane since 1921, and authorities fear luck is about to run out.

President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Florida, and U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor said 7,000 federal workers were mobilized to help in one of the largest mobilizations of federal personnel in history.

“This is the real deal here with Milton,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor told a Monday news conference. “If you want to take on Mother Nature, she wins 100 per cent of the time.”

The Tampa Bay area is still rebounding from Helene and its powerful surge — a wall of water up to eight feet (2.4 metres) it created even though its eye was 100 miles (160 kilometres) offshore. Twelve people died there, with the worst damage along a string of barrier islands from St. Petersburg to Clearwater.

— with files from The Associated Press

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