Florida pushes largest evacuation in a decade as ‘life-threatening’ Hurricane Milton strengthens to Cat. 4 storm

Floridians were under urgent warnings to start their largest evacuation in nearly a decade as Hurricane Milton rapidly grew to a “life-threatening” Category 4 storm with 150-mph winds Monday, placing hundreds of thousands of residents still recovering from Helene in the path of new danger.

Milton started Monday as an alarming Category 2 hurricane — before being upgraded twice in just over an hour into a major Category 4 storm, according to the National Hurricane Center.

It is projected to make landfall Wednesday, likely hitting near the heavily populated Tampa Bay area — with the hurricane center warning that it is still forecast to “undergo rapid intensification” before then.

Storm surge and flood watches were issued for Florida’s Gulf Coast as Milton hit maximum sustained winds of 150 mph — just 7 mph shy of Category 5 status.

“I’m just gonna distill it down and put it in some plain speak — everybody’s just got to get out,” warned Sheriff Bob Gualtieri of Pinellas County, which includes Clearwater and St. Petersburg.

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“This is going to be bad. That’s all you need to know,” he said of warnings the storm surge could top 8 feet along his county’s coastal regions.

“There’s going to reach a point where you are on your own, because we are not going to get our people killed because you don’t want to listen to what we’re saying.”

Kevin Guthrie, director of Florida’s emergency management division, urged residents to be prepared for the “largest evacuation that we have seen most likely since 2017 Hurricane Irma,” when 7 million Floridians were ordered to evacuate.

“I highly encourage you to evacuate,” Guthrie said during a press conference

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also said that while it remains to be seen where Milton will strike, it’s clear the state is going to be hit hard.

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“You have time to prepare … be sure your hurricane preparedness plan is in place,” DeSantis said Sunday.

“If you’re on that west coast of Florida, barrier islands, just assume you’ll be asked to leave.”

The governor placed 51 of the state’s counties under emergency orders Sunday and said residents should be prepared for widespread outages and disruption.

Even before Milton was upgraded Monday, it posed “an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge from Milton for portions of the west coast of the Florida Peninsula beginning Tuesday night or early Wednesday,” the hurricane center had warned.

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“Residents should follow any advice given by local officials and evacuate if told to do so,” the federal agency warned.

The storm is expected to remain at its current strength for the next few days, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The Tampa Bay area was still reeling from the effects of Helene, which left extensive damage and killed at least 230 people across six states.

Helene was also a Category 4 storm when it made landfall in Florida on Sept. 26, before soon being downgraded — but devastating some areas to the point that they are now unrecognizable.

Milton, however, could remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida toward the Atlantic Ocean — which would spare the other states devastated by Helene.

The center of the storm was about 150 miles west of Progreso, Mexico, and about 735 miles southwest of Tampa early Monday morning. It was moving east-southeast at 8 mph, according to the hurricane center.

The Tampa Bay area was still reeling from the effects of Helene, which left extensive damage and killed at least 230 people across six states.

With Post wires

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