Florida prepares to evacuate millions of people ahead of another hurricane

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida is facing the threat of another major hurricane making landfall in the state, prompting state emergency officials to prepare for the evacuation of potentially more than 6 million residents as the state still recovers from its last direct hit.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday told reporters at the Florida Emergency Operations Center the state is now racing to clean up debris left by Hurricane Helene, which hit the state just 10 days ago. Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall somewhere along the state's western coast by midweek as a hurricane, the National Weather Service forecasted, bringing the threat of deadly coastal flooding, high winds, and torrential rainfall.

Milton strengthened into a hurricane on Sunday, and the storm could bring coastal flooding that may leave Tampa Bay under 10 feet of water. Milton has the potential of pushing even more Gulf water onto the coast than Helene, which hit a rural stretch of the state's Big Bend region in the north. Despite Helene making landfall hundreds of miles away, communities along the gulf coast on Florida's peninsula were wrecked by significant flooding.

Milton’s flooding, however, will directly hit a much more heavily-populated part of the state as the storm moves east along Interstate 4 toward the Atlantic Ocean.

DeSantis said a direct hit on Tampa Bay would be the most challenging scenario for the state.

“From the entire time I've been governor, you look at different scenarios, and probably the scenario that was one that is challenging in terms of the damage, would be a major hurricane going into Tampa Bay, just because it's so vulnerable,” DeSantis said. “When you're talking about Tampa Bay, and you talk about what even 10 feet of storm surge would do ... the greater Tampa Bay area is millions of people.”

DeSantis was joined by Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie, who said he expects millions of people to evacuate from the peninsula in the coming days as local emergency officials call out voluntary and mandatory orders. He expected the effort to rival Hurricane Irma in 2017, which led to the evacuation of more than 6.8 million people.

“I have the state emergency response team preparing for the largest evacuation that we have seen — most likely — since 2017's Hurricane Irma,” Guthrie said.

Milton could become the second hurricane to hit Florida in less than two weeks after Helene made landfall along the coast south of Tallahassee, a comparatively sparsely populated area. Helene slammed into the coast with 140 mph winds before devastating communities through Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

National Weather Service forecasters believe that Tropical Storm Milton could hit Florida as a major hurricane as it steams toward the state from the western Gulf of Mexico. But the storm could still run into dry air or other weather patterns that would limit Milton’s growth.

“Regardless of the details, there is increasing confidence that a powerful hurricane with life-threatening hazards will be affecting portions of the Florida west coast around the middle of this week,” according to a National Hurricane Center report posted early Sunday. “Residents there should closely monitor this system and listen to local officials.”

The damage left by Hurricane Helene prompted President Joe Biden to direct FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell to stay in North Carolina until recovery efforts are complete. But with Florida now facing Milton, Criswell said during a Sunday morning interview on ABC News that she talked with Florida officials about pooling more resources as recovery efforts from Helene continue.

"We'll move more resources in there to support their needs," Criswell said. DeSantis and Criswell talked by phone about preparations on Sunday.

DeSantis said some sort of impact from Milton is inevitable for the state, which is still racing to clean up the mountains of debris left by Helene. He signed an executive order Saturday night calling on debris collection sites to remain open 24 hours a day as state and local crews continue to scoop up materials from the side of the road. The executive order initially included 41 counties, but DeSantis added another 10 counties on Sunday.

A complication for Florida’s storm recovery is the number of available contracted debris removal teams if other states were hit by the storm. Many debris removal teams left Florida for North Carolina after Helene unleashed utter destruction there, and Guthrie said those that left while still under contract with the state could be banned from future work. State crews that were sent to North Carolina to assist with recovery efforts there have also been called back to the state ahead of Milton.

DeSantis said forecasts have Milton Making landfall in Madeira Beach in Pinellas County, which saw heavy damage from coastal flooding churned up by Helene. DeSantis said communities along the western side of the state face the potential of catastrophic flooding, and not just the area within the forecast cone.

“This is not a good track for the state of Florida,” DeSantis said.

Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.