Tampa Bay faces 'impending catastrophe' from Milton's storm surge, Rep. Castor warns

People in the Tampa Bay area are fearing a once-in-century direct hit from Hurricane Milton. To discuss how the region is preparing, Geoff Bennett spoke with Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor. She represents Florida’s 14th Congressional District, which includes Tampa and St. Petersburg.

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Geoff Bennett: Let’s shift our focus now to the greater Tampa area and what people are doing there to get ready.

Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor represents Florida’s 14th Congressional District, which includes Tampa and St. Petersburg.

Thank you for being with us. We appreciate it.

Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL): You bet.

Geoff Bennett: As we just heard, Florida is bracing for a direct hit from this monster storm. What’s your greatest concern right now and how are federal, state and local officials preparing?

Rep. Kathy Castor: Geoff, we have an impending catastrophe on our hands because, less than two weeks ago, we were swamped by a historic storm surge from Hurricane Helene, a storm that was 100 miles off the coastline, but threw up so much water that it flooded out thousands of my neighbors across Pinellas County, Hillsborough County, Tampa and St. Petersburg.

It’s devastating. They have their whole lives out on the street corner and we were in response mode, just trying to help them survive and get the assistance they need, and then here comes a monster, Hurricane Milton, that is just going to upend everything and have an even harsher impact.

Geoff Bennett: Yes.

Well, more than a million people are under evacuation orders along Florida’s west coast. There are reports of hourslong traffic jams, hotels at capacity, gas stations that have run out of fuel. What’s the status of evacuations in your area? How is that process moving forward?

Rep. Kathy Castor: The only positive surrounding Hurricane Milton, we have a little bit of time. We have had a couple of days.

And folks were heeding the evacuation orders. Many of them didn’t have homes to stay in, so they took this evacuation very seriously. The roads today were not quite as clogged around town. People are scared. They have — we have never had this kind of damage and then this one-two punch of — Milton is going to be a triple threat, because it’s not just the storm surge.

It’s a storm surge at even greater levels than Helene, ten flash flooding because of enormous amounts of rain, and then the hurricane winds. And watching Milton intensify so rapidly out there has just put people out on the roads.

But I have to tell you, there’s still some folks that I have heard from today that said, well, you know what, I’m going to go to the second or third story and ride this out.

And that is very misguided. They’re likely going to lose their lives if they’re in an evacuation zone and they try to stay.

Geoff Bennett: You were chair of the Select Congressional Committee on the Climate Crisis. And this hurricane intensified faster than almost any on record, from a tropical storm to a Category 5 in less than 24 hours.

What does that suggest about the threat that climate change poses? And what does it mean for the areas that you represent, these low-lying coastal areas?

Rep. Kathy Castor: Climate risks are growing. They’re growing exponentially, whether it’s wildfires or extreme heat, longer, hotter summers, and here, in a very dramatic fashion, the rapidly intensifying hurricanes, because the Gulf of Mexico is incredibly warm.

Down in the Keys, all the waters were like a sauna practically. And that is jet fuel for these hurricanes. And it — and people aren’t used to that. They’re used to maybe having a little bit of time and giving the forecasters the ability to tell them to get out of harm’s way.

But this is the new abnormal. And I’m very proud that we adopted a lot of climate pollution reduction policies in the Inflation Reduction Act and the infrastructure law. But we have got to act urgently. We have got to do more.

And let me say, the climate crisis isn’t just about the weather. It’s about your wallet. Insurance is exorbitant in Florida. Your electric bills now, because you have to run your air conditioner longer, they’re out of sight.

So this is impacting our way of life here and making it so expensive that folks will say, I can’t afford to live in Florida any longer.

Geoff Bennett: Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor, thanks for your time. And we’re certainly wishing you the best, as well as all the people in the affected areas.

Rep. Kathy Castor: Thanks. We’re going to need it.