‘Just leave’: Pinellas officials advise residents to prepare, evacuate ahead of Milton

LARGO, Fla. (WFLA) — Pinellas County officials urged residents to prepare ahead of Hurricane Milton, just a week after Helene devastated the area.

Commission Chair Kathleen Peters urged residents to evacuate and to “not ride this storm out,” as the county anticipates power and water outages.

The county is currently under a flood watch, but additional watches and advisories are expected later on Sunday.

Mandatory evacuations were issued for long-term healthcare facilities, assisted-living facilities, and hospitals in zones A, B, and C.

“I know you’re fatigued, I know you’re tired, I know you’re exhausted, but we need to take this storm seriously,” Peters said.

Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri advised residents to evacuate when the orders are given. More than 1,500 calls were received where the county couldn’t during Helene due to the impacts.

“Just leave,” the sheriff said. “We can’t have a tragedy that we had a week-and-a-half ago.”

The county will work with the transportation office and the sheriff’s office to help get residents out.

Cathie Perkins, the Director of Pinellas County Emergency Management, said those who experienced flooding during Helene can anticipate even more flooding with Milton.

Anyone with electronics using lithium-ion batteries is urged to remove those out of surge areas, as they can cause house fires.

The storm is forecasted to make landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast midweek as a Category 3 Hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center.

For additional information from Pinellas County, call 727-464-4333 or visit Pinellas.gov .

WFLA live streamed the press conference at 1:30 p.m. which can be viewed in the video player above.

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