Hillsborough officials order evacuations ahead of Hurricane Milton

Hillsborough County officials on Monday ordered mandatory evacuations for zones A and B and for all residents who live in mobile or manufactured homes.

State of play: The orders begin at 2:30pm Monday, although you can leave earlier. You can find your evacuation zone here .

• The orders come ahead of Hurricane Milton, which strengthened to a Category 4 storm Monday morning and is taking aim at Florida's Gulf Coast.

What they're saying: Residents must be in a safe location by 7am Wednesday, Hillsborough Fire Chief Jason Dougherty said during a news conference Monday morning.

• "I cannot stress enough to our residents and our businesses the importance of leaving the evacuation zones," he said.
• "As we saw during Hurricane Helene, the storm surge threat to our region is high. It is very real. It is very dangerous. … If you remain there, you could die."

Elsewhere in the region: Pinellas County officials are expected to order evacuations today, likely in zones A, B and C.

• Evacuations area already underway in Pasco County for zones A and B.

Hillsborough will open nine shelters for residents. The following locations are general population and pet-friendly:

• Burnett Middle School, Seffner
• Durant High School, Plant City
• Middleton High School, Tampa
• Shields Middle School, Ruskin
• Sickles High School, Tampa

Pizzo Elementary School in Tampa will serve as a non-pet friendly general population shelter.

And these locations will serve special-needs residents, meaning those who require electricity or have cognitive disabilities that can't be served in a general-population shelter. All three are pet-friendly.

• Erwin Technical College, Tampa
• Sumner High School, Riverview
• Strawberry Crest High School, Dover