TAMPA, Fla.—After more than a week of watching, worrying, and speculating, Floridians came face to face with Hurricane Milton.

There was damage in Milton’s wake, as well as tragedies. At least 10 people lost their lives because of the storm.

For most, however, it was a hurricane that wasn’t as bad as expected.

As the storm inched across the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida gaining strength, residents were told to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Many along the state’s Gulf Coast were still sorting through debris from Hurricane Helene, two weeks earlier.

Milton appeared merciless. The National Hurricane Center predicted that it would make landfall as a borderline Category 4 storm, pummeling Tampa Bay before trekking across the heavily populated Interstate 4 corridor and remaining a strong Category 1 hurricane as it entered the Atlantic.

People of the Tampa Bay region—near the middle of the state on the western coastline—were told to expect an unprecedented 10 feet to 15 feet of storm surge. A wall of water more than 10 feet high also was expected to the immediate north and south.

Officials declared mandatory evacuations of low-lying areas.

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor told her constituents in a televised address that if they stayed in those evacuation zones, they would die.

But Milton landed south of Tampa, and that changed everything.

It was still a major hurricane, and its outer bands spun off scores of tornadoes. One twister in St. Lucie County, on the state’s east coast, killed four.

Milton threw as much as 8 feet to 10 feet of storm surge into Sarasota County. It dumped as much as 18 inches of rain in some areas, causing flash flooding. Its winds caused significant infrastructure damage, including the destruction of the roof of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team.

On the morning after Milton hit, more than 3.2 million people were without power. By the early afternoon, 106 people had been rescued, and more than 80,000 people were taking refuge in nearly 300 shelters spread across the state.

“What we know for sure is we avoided that worst-case scenario that we were planning for,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told CNN on the morning of Oct. 10.

Spared From the Worst

“I had screen damage, which was expected,“ Gleffe, 41, told The Epoch Times. ”My daughter’s playground tipped over. My neighbor’s playground tipped over. Other than that, except for us not having power, I think we got spared the worst of it.”

While his wife and daughter fled to eastern Tennessee, he stayed behind to ensure that their elderly neighbors would have a helping hand if things took a turn for the worse.

“I’m happy I was able to be here, just in case something happened, but I’m also happy that ... I’m not needed for anything,” Gleffe said. “My neighbors are all fine.”

Englewood lies about 12 miles south of Venice, where Milton rolled ashore. The unincorporated community is split between northwestern Charlotte County and southwestern Sarasota County. Gleffe lives on the Charlotte County side, just a couple of miles from the Gulf.

“We were at the bottom of the eye when it hit the Sarasota and Tampa areas, where they got the worst of it,” Gleffe said.

Now, he and his family are trying to figure out their next steps.

His wife and daughter will be traveling home “at some point,” according to Gleffe. But with no time frame for when their power will be restored, he’s not sure when that will happen.

Officially, hurricane season ends on Nov. 30. So he knows that Milton might not be the last storm to threaten the Sunshine State this year.

“If there’s another one that’s probably coming up, [I may] just tell my wife, ‘Yeah, just stay in Gatlinburg,’” Gleffe said.

Milton’s Eye On Venice

Residents of Venice were suddenly told that they may get 10 feet to 15 feet of storm surge as the back of Milton’s eye came ashore. That kind of surge puts ocean water in living rooms and sometimes covers homes completely.

The center of Milton’s eye crawled across Lakewood Ranch and Venice at about 9 p.m. EDT on Oct. 9. In the calm of the eye, screaming wind gusts were replaced with a gentle breeze and a calm that some called “eerie” or “surreal.”

Then the back of the storm’s eye—which carries the brunt of the hurricane’s surge—made its way ashore. After hours of howling winds, battering rain, and fretful uncertainty, the rising sun allowed Venice residents to see clear skies and scattered debris.

Area evacuees with medical needs took cover at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. On-duty staff bunkered with their families to ride out the worst of the storm. When they were told it was safe to leave, some gathered outside, overjoyed by early reports that flooding appeared far less extensive than anticipated.

Much of Venice experienced 5 feet to 7 feet of surge instead of 10 feet to 15 feet.

Residents near Venice Beach who had stayed put were out early cleaning up debris. Beachside condominiums in the area had flooded ground floors and damage from wind.

Hurricane-force winds battered the roofs of homes in Nokomis, ripping off sections of wood support beams and leaving them in piles like toothpicks.

The northern eyewall of Hurricane Ian had pounded that community just two years before. Some residents were still recovering and rebuilding from the previous storm.

Helene Debris Stays Put

Many homeowners near Tampa’s waterways hadn’t been concerned about the wind. They were worried about Milton’s forecasted storm surge.

Helene had surrounded Jason Burgess’s home in the South Tampa neighborhood with stormwater and brought 8 inches of flooding inside. But during Milton, his home was spared.

Burgess had also worried about the mountains of debris piled up on curbs in his community after Helene. Would Milton simply spread it again, he had wondered.

State and local agencies had carried away as much as possible before Milton’s arrival. However, many narrow streets still had mountains of debris left uncollected. Authorities warned that the assortments of glass, hardwood, metal, and plastic could become deadly shrapnel in Milton’s powerful winds.

As the sun rose on the morning after Milton’s rampage, streets were cluttered with downed tree limbs, pieces of rooftops, signs, and awnings. But the piled-up debris largely had stayed in place.

“I did expect to have some of that stuff blowing across our yard, and maybe ... hitting our windows or something,” Burgess said.

More inland, staffers on the hurricane “ride-out team” at ZooTampa at Lowry Park were out assessing the damage, too.

The 63-acre nonprofit “sustained damage due to the high winds associated with the storm and is currently without power,” the  zoo’s communications director, Sandra Morrison, told The Epoch Times.

But ahead of the storm, zookeepers had coaxed large animals into their night houses and moved smaller animals and birds inside, too. Special care was taken to guide a flighty flamboyance of flamingos to a safe area in the 67-year-old park.

“Most importantly,” Morrison said after the storm, “our team members and all 1,000-plus animals entrusted in our care are safe.”

‘Wasn’t as Bad as We Were Expecting’

Sean Ryder spent part of the morning after Milton collecting aluminum shards dislodged from his home in Highland Village Mobile Home Park.

He was awake when the storm tore off the roof between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m.

“It sounded like it was just being ripped, just ripped right off,” Ryder said.

Daylight revealed the damage.

The roof had been peeled away and planted partially on his neighbor’s home.

As part of the community’s maintenance crew, he got right to work on a cleanup project with no clear end in sight.

In downtown Lakeland, Scott and Gina Sweezey stopped at Molly McHugh’s Irish Pub, one of the only businesses open.

“It wasn’t as bad as we were expecting,” Scott Sweezey said.

Their Lakeland home never lost power, he said.

The Sweezeys expected a quick return to normal for their Central Florida community.

“It’s mostly trees down [but] nothing structural [in terms of damages],” he said. “It looks like all the buildings did well.”

State Response

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said those efforts weren’t expected to deplete hurricane response resources.

“It doesn’t mean there’s not going to be a lot of damage,” DeSantis said the morning after the storm. “It doesn’t mean there’s not going to be a lot we’re going to have to contend with. But, just in terms of what we were prepped for, I think we will probably have an abundance of resources [after handling the aftermath of Milton].”

The Associated Press, Stacy Robinson, and Nanette Holt contributed to this report.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas confirmed on Oct. 10 that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will need more funding as soon as possible following hurricanes Milton and Helene.

Helene dealt widespread damage across the southern United States, doing its worst in western North Carolina, after making landfall late last month. Milton slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast as a category 3 hurricane late on Oct. 9, and officials have not fully surveyed the extent of the damage.

In a news conference at the White House, Mayorkas said he believed FEMA has enough funding to deal with the aftermath of both storms, when answering questions from reporters.

“We have the resources to respond to the immediate needs of individuals impacted by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton,” Mayorkas said.

“That being said, we will need additional funds, and we implore Congress when it returns to, in fact, fund FEMA as is needed.”

Mayorkas then called on Congress to swiftly pass a measure to fund FEMA’s disaster response “to deliver assistance to people,” adding, “We will need funding very rapidly.” Congress is currently on recess and is scheduled to return on Nov. 12.

The homeland security head had previously suggested FEMA didn’t have the long-term funding needed, but said similarly that the agency would be able to attend to the immediate needs of Helene’s victims. His comments sparked criticism from some Republican lawmakers, who claimed on social media that FEMA was spending hundreds of millions of dollars on illegal immigrants, citing an April announcement from the agency.

Some North Carolina residents have reportedly claimed that FEMA has blocked off roads and not provided enough relief in Helene’s aftermath. The Epoch Times has been unable to independently verify those claims.

FEMA Director Deanne Criswell told ABC News on Oct. 6 that such accusations are “not helpful” and are “demoralizing to all of the first responders that have been out there in their communities helping people.”

FEMA also set up several pages on its website, including a “rumor response” section that addresses concerns people may have regarding its handling of Helene.

“FEMA’s disaster response efforts and individual assistance is funded through the Disaster Relief Fund, which is a dedicated fund for disaster efforts. Disaster Relief Fund money has not been diverted to other, non-disaster related efforts,” the agency said in one of the rumor response statements.

Meanwhile, Criswell said FEMA has “enough funds to absolutely get through the response” for both Helene and Milton, but might run out of cash without additional funding.

“We don’t have enough money to continue throughout the rest of the year,” she told Fox News, adding that her agency has been “able to anticipate last year, this year, and even going into next year, that we are not going to have enough to pay all of the recovery bills.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also responded on Oct. 9 to a rumor that FEMA would prevent certain people from returning to their homes after evacuating ahead of Milton. He rebutted those claims, noting that his administration is leading the response in Florida.

“We live in an era where if you put out crap online, you can get a lot of people to share it and you can monetize that. That’s just the way it is,” DeSantis said at a news conference, adding that “in the state of Florida none of that stuff would ever fly.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Hurricane Milton tore the fabric roof from Tropicana Field, used by the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team, and littered the field below with debris, according to aerial photos and video footage.

The hurricane roared onshore near the Sarasota area on Wednesday night as a Category 3 storm, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), bringing winds in excess of 110 mph.

Officials with the Rays said that a handful of “essential personnel” were inside Tropicana Field, located in St. Petersburg as the storm hit. Footage showed the swaths that serve as the domed building’s roof were completely tattered, giving a clear line of sight inside the stadium.

Sections of the roof—some relatively small, some large enough to cover several rows of seats—fell inside the ballpark, the footage shows. No injuries at the stadium were reported.

Footage taken from inside Tropicana Field showed the roof coming apart as debris swirled around as Milton hit the area. In the aftermath of the incident, the frame that supports the fabric roof appeared to be mostly left intact.

Earlier in the week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said there were plans for the ballpark to serve as a “temporary base camp” to support debris cleanup operations and temporarily house some first responders. But those plans were changed as the storm neared, amid concerns the roof would not survive Milton’s wrath, officials said.

“They were relocated,” DeSantis told a news conference on Thursday, referring to the staff at Tropicana Field.

“Tropicana Field is a routine staging area for these things,” he said. “The roof on that ... I think it’s rated for 110 mph and so the forecast changes, but as it became clear that there was going to be something of that magnitude that was going to be within the distance, they redeployed them out of Tropicana. There were no state assets that were inside Tropicana Field.”

Raymond James Stadium, the home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL team, was overcome with water, video footage and photos taken during the storm show. That stadium does not have a roof—unlike Tropicana Field.

In Tampa, MacDill Air Force Base, home to the U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command, was evacuated on Wednesday and is still closed, officials said.

It has about 185 personnel working at an emergency operations center out of Raymond James Stadium. There were 13 KC-135 aircraft evacuated to McConnell Air Force Base, and other aircraft remained in hangars or away on military missions.

DeSantis said at Thursday’s press event that while Milton was significant, the storm did not bring the “worst-case scenario” to Florida. The worst storm surge, he said, appeared to have occurred in Sarasota County, located south of Tampa. There, 8 to 10 feet of surge was reported, he said.

“We will better understand the extent of the damage as the day progresses,” DeSantis said. “The storm was significant, but, thankfully, this was not the worst-case scenario.”

Opened in 1990, Tropicana Field can hold more than 42,700 people. Raymond James Stadium, meanwhile, opened in 1998 and can seat about 75,000.

As of Thursday morning, Milton remained a Category 1 hurricane as the storm’s center remained east of Florida’s coastline, according to the NHC. Tropical storm warnings were still in effect for Florida, parts of southern Georgia, and parts of South Carolina as of Thursday afternoon.

More than 3.4 million homes and businesses were without power after Hurricane Milton spun across central Florida, according to the website PowerOutage.us.

Energy companies serve more than 11.5 million customer accounts statewide, according to the website. The number of people left without electricity continued to grow as the hurricane cut a path eastward across the state.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said Florida appeared to have dodged a “worst-case scenario” during Hurricane Milton, which made landfall on Wednesday night as a Category 3 storm before passing over the state.

Milton, which formed in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane with 185 mph winds several days before it slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast about 50 miles south of Tampa. But as the storm neared Florida, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) downgraded the system to a Category 3.

“What we know for sure is we avoided that worst-case scenario that we were planning for,” FEMA Director Deanne Criswell told CNN on Thursday morning. “But the fact that they prepared for the worst really made sure that they were able to respond to the impacts that they have experienced, and the biggest ones right now are the tornadoes that have been reported across the state.”

Her sentiment was echoed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who told a news conference around the same time that a “worst-case scenario” appeared to have been avoided.

“We will better understand the extent of the damage as the day progresses,” DeSantis said at a Thursday briefing. “The storm was significant but thankfully, this was not the worst-case scenario.”

Criswell told CNN that Florida will still need federal aid from FEMA, which has been responding to destructive impacts from Hurricane Helene. But Florida will not need the same level of federal aid that it “could have needed,” she said.

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor told reporters that Port Tampa Bay, a critical piece of Florida’s infrastructure, did not suffer major damage during the storm, while DeSantis said Port Tampa Bay “will likely be able to resume operations very quickly.”

“The port looks good, so we should be able to get fuel in and out of there,” Castor told reporters on Thursday after viewing the Tampa port from a helicopter. “There was one of the fuel containers at the port that had a roof peeled back,” she said.

“If Milton had hit on the north side, we would have been in dire circumstances.”

Hurricane Milton’s storm surge peaked at 8 to 10 feet in Sarasota County on the west side of Florida, DeSantis said in the press conference at the state Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee.

But the fabric that serves as the roof of Tropicana Field—home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team in St. Petersburg—was ripped to shreds by the fierce winds from Milton. It wasn’t immediately clear if there was damage inside. Before the storm hit, first responders were moved from a staging area there, officials said.

Aerial photos taken after Milton made landfall show that a large portion of the roof was torn off, with the baseball field and diamond visible.

As of Thursday morning, about 3.4 million customers and businesses across Florida were without electricity, according to tracking website Poweroutage.us. Outages were also reported in neighboring Georgia.

The White House said in a statement that DeSantis told President Joe Biden that officials are still evaluating the damage to his state. The White House added that Criswell would join DeSantis in surveying the damage on Thursday morning before briefing Biden on the results.

The system remained a hurricane as it passed over the state overnight, according to the NHC. As of Thursday morning, Milton’s center is now over the Atlantic Ocean just east of Florida’s coast. It is now expected to be downgraded to a tropical storm on Friday as it passes across the Atlantic south of Bermuda, NHC modeling shows.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Multiple deaths have been reported in Florida from tornadoes, spawned by Hurricane Milton, that ripped through the state, downing buildings and trees and leaving millions without power.

The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office confirmed four people in the county were killed after numerous tornadoes struck the area in quick succession, wreaking devastation.

Sheriff Keith Pearson confirmed to Florida’s WPBF 25 News that there had been a “loss of life” in the Spanish Lakes Country Club community in Fort Pierce but did not state exactly how many fatalities had been reported.

Search and rescue teams are on their way to the area and fire department personnel were currently going through the rubble to help recover the victims, he said.

Pearson added that Gov. Ron DeSantis’s office had reached out to the Sheriff’s Office, and Florida Highway Patrol and the National Guard were sending search and rescue teams to the area to help with search and recovery operations.

“This community was hit the hardest, the quickest,” Pearson said. “It’s devastating, no words can describe it,” the sheriff added.

The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office said its 10,000-square-foot facility in Fort Pierce was also damaged during a tornado that struck shortly before Milton made landfall on Wednesday, Pearson said in a video message posted to Facebook.

The powerful storm took the iron building out “within a moment” and it collapsed on top of patrol cars parked underneath.

No one was inside the building or the patrol vehicles at the time and no injuries were reported, he said.

The sheriff stressed the dangerous nature of the storm and urged residents to stay indoors.

Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida, on Wednesday evening as a powerful Category 3 storm, bringing with it powerful winds, deadly storm surge, and potential flooding to much of the state.

The National Hurricane Center reported that the hurricane’s eye crossed the coastline at around 8:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, bringing with it sustained winds of 120 mph. By 5:00 a.m. on Thursday, the storm had crossed the state, and was heading out to sea, still packing hurricane-force winds.

Vehicles Overturned, Residents Trapped Under Rubble

Elsewhere, the Palm Beach County Fire Rescue said Wednesday evening that it responded to multiple reports of tornadoes, associated injuries, and trapped people in the Wellington, Acreage, and Loxahatchee areas. The 911 calls started coming in just before 5 p.m. local time and continued for nearly one hour, officials said.

“Several tornado-related incidents were found in the Deer Path Lane area of Wellington and near Northlake and Coconut Boulevards in the Acreage and Loxahatchee areas,” officials said.

Palm Beach County Fire Rescue said it sent at least 40 units out to the affected areas, and that firefighters had located and rescued multiple people from damaged structures and vehicles.

Some residents were trapped under rubble or stuck in overturned vehicles tossed by the strong winds, officials said.

One person was rescued from an overturned RV while five people, including three trauma patients, were transported to the hospital, the fire rescue service said. Many more residents were treated at hospital for minor injuries, officials said.

The Palm Beach County Emergency Operations Center is also aware of damage in other municipalities and has contacted the fire rescue officials in those areas, officials noted.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Milton has left more than three million power customers in Florida without power.

Before Milton made landfall on Wednesday, the federal government approved a disaster emergency declaration for Florida, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to free up additional resources to help disaster relief efforts associated with the hurricane.

President Joe Biden also said on X Wednesday that “thousands” of federal personnel are on the ground to help assist with disaster relief efforts while FEMA has 20 million meals and 40 million liters of water ready to deploy to those impacted by the storm.

Rescue teams, helicopters, and high-water vehicles have also been positioned “as close to the storm as possible” so they are ready to conduct life-saving missions, Biden said.

The president added that he and Vice President Kamala Harris have pledged to “be there for as long as it takes to rescue, to recover, and to rebuild.”

Caden Pearson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Gas shortages have already begun in Florida as Hurricane Milton approaches the state generating up to 145 mph winds.

By Wednesday at 2:43 p.m., more than 24 percent of Florida’s 7,915 gas stations are out of fuel, according to fuel-tracker data provided by GasBuddy. That’s about 1,900 stations.

The National Hurricane Center said the Category 4 hurricane is “growing in size as it moves closer to the west coast of Florida,” delivering “life-threatening storm surge, damaging winds, and flooding rains” to be expected throughout the state.

The hurricane was downgraded from a Category 5 on Tuesday.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a press conference on Wednesday that the state has “considerable fuel reserves ahead of Milton,” and that they would be “utilized as needed following the storm.”

“We’ve already dispatched a lot of fuel in the lead-up to this, but we still have on hand 1.6 million gallons of diesel and 1.1 million gallons of gasoline,” he said.

As it stands, there’s no fuel shortage, he said.

“However, demand has been extraordinarily high, and some gas stations have run out,” he said. “To be able to help ameliorate that, the Florida Highway Patrol has facilitated 106 long-distance fuel tanker escorts with sirens getting through traffic totaling almost a million gallons of gasoline from ports in Tampa, Jacksonville, Everglades, and Manatee, and they are continuing with the fuel escorts as we speak.”

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said the hurricane will likely disrupt critical infrastructure such as fuel terminals and power plants.

Florida, which has no refineries or gasoline pipelines, is supplied by delivery trucks or ships from domestic and international sources, the EIA said.

The U.S. Coast Guard reported the closure of several ports in Florida, the EIA said.

“Inbound and outbound vessel traffic to Port Tampa Bay, where over 17 million tons of petroleum- and natural gas-related products move through in a typical year, has ceased,” the EIA said. 

More than 43 percent of the state’s petroleum moves through Port Tampa Bay, the EIA said. 

“The duration of the port closures and impacts from Hurricane Milton on trade movements for petroleum and natural gas remain uncertain,” the EIA said.

DeSantis said in a Wednesday press release that Hurricane Milton is traveling 190 miles southwest of Tampa “with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph.” 

“Milton will move across the eastern Gulf of Mexico today, make landfall along the west-central coast of Florida late tonight or early Thursday morning, and move off the east coast of Florida over the western Atlantic Ocean Thursday afternoon,” DeSantis said.

Milton follows Hurricane Helene, which made landfall on the Florida panhandle on Sept. 26, digging a destructive path up through western North Carolina, where many residents have yet to recover.

Helene, a Category 4 hurricane, dropped 40 trillion gallons of water on multiple southeastern states from Sept. 24 to 29. Winds reached 140 mph. The death count is currently at 227, but officials expect that number to rise.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday responded to claims on social media suggesting that federal officials will not allow residents back in their homes after Hurricane Milton, which is now a Category 1 storm and is expected to move east over the Atlantic Ocean later Thursday.

The governor denied those claims, saying that his administration is in charge of the hurricane response, not the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It’s not clear where those rumors originated.

“We live in an era where if you put out crap online, you can get a lot of people to share it and you can monetize that. That’s just the way it is,” DeSantis told the news conference, adding that “in the state of Florida none of that stuff would ever fly.”

“FEMA is not leading this show, we are leading this show here in the state of Florida,“ he said. ”We’re marshaling whatever assets are available to us, we’re leveraging that.”

DeSantis said that there will not “be anything where FEMA is ever going to be able to keep you from your home,” before adding a word of caution.

“Be careful about the nonsense that gets circulated, and just know that the more titillating it is, the more likely somebody is making money off it,” he said. Those people don’t care “about the well-being and safety of the people that are actually in the eye of this storm, it’s all just trying to monetize what they’re doing,” the governor continued.

A page on FEMA’s website says that the federal agency “cannot seize your property or land” after a natural disaster or after a person applies for federal disaster assistance.

“If the results of the inspection deem your home uninhabitable, that information is only used to determine the amount of FEMA assistance you may receive to make your home safe, sanitary and functional,” the FEMA page says.

Hurricane Milton made landfall Category 3 storm on Wednesday evening, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC). The storm was once a Category 5 but has since weakened, although it is still considered a “major” hurricane.

The storm prompted the evacuation of millions of people along Florida’s Gulf Coast this week. Officials had warned that people living in storm surge-prone areas along the coast should flee or risk death.

Power outages as of Thursday morning are rampant. More than 3 million Floridians lack electricity, according to Poweroutage.us.

FEMA’s response, meanwhile, has been criticized by Republicans in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which caused significant devastation in western North Carolina. Republicans have noted that the agency in April allocated over $600 million in funding for illegal migrants after Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters last week that FEMA is running out of funding.

There have also been reports from North Carolina residents who have claimed that FEMA has blocked off roads or has not provided enough relief in Helene’s aftermath. The Epoch Times has been unable to independently verify those claims.

The director of the agency Deanne Criswell has pushed back on the criticism by telling ABC News on Sunday that such statements are “not helpful” and are “demoralizing to all of the first responders that have been out there in their communities helping people.”

On Tuesday, Criswell said that FEMA “have enough funds to absolutely get through the response” for both Helene and Milton, but might run out of cash by the end of the fiscal year.

“We don’t have enough money to continue throughout the rest of the year,” she told Fox News, adding that her agency has been “able to anticipate last year, this year, and even going into next year, that we are not going to have enough to pay all of the recovery bills.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Officials in Florida have warned of the fire danger posed by electric vehicles (EVs) that are inundated by floodwaters as Hurricane Milton began its assault on the Sunshine State on Oct. 9.

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor reminded residents in a press conference early Wednesday that city garages were left open and urged electric vehicle owners in particular to take advantage of the upper floors in garages to avoid flood and fire risk.

“You can put your electric vehicles up high,” Castor said in the press conference. “Make sure you are elevating all those electric batteries and electric items as well because those batteries—once they start on fire—they cannot be extinguished.”

She added that some houses were lost during Hurricane Helene two weeks ago to fires sparked by saltwater flooding electric vehicles.

Prior to that storm, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also warned residents of the risk of fire from electric vehicles and flood waters, as contact with saltwater can short-circuit the batteries, causing a chain reaction known as thermal runaway in which heat energy is released from the battery to cause a fire.

The City of Tampa mobility department noted all parking fees were removed in anticipation of Hurricane Milton to encourage more EV users to take advantage of above-ground parking.

“During Hurricane Helene, at least two house fires were caused by electric vehicle batteries that came in contact with floodwater,” the city added in a notice to residents on Wednesday.

Tampa’s warning to its residents is an example of broader concerns of EV-related flood and fire risk, as Florida CFO and State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis on Monday called on EV manufacturers to take steps to protect lives during Hurricane Milton.

“The CFO’s Division of State Fire Marshal has confirmed 48 lithium-ion battery fires related to storm surge from Hurricane Helene, with 11 of those fires associated with EVs,” the agency said in a fire safety alert to Florida residents. “Consumer items containing lithium-ion batteries include cars, scooters, hover boards, golf carts or children’s toys. The CFO also called on EV manufacturers to be pro-active by alerting consumers to place their EVs to higher ground.”

Patronis said if residents have one of these vehicles, scooters, hoverboards, golf carts or children’s toys that have been compromised by flooding, they should be unplugged and moved safely away from homes and apartments into open spaces.

“If a vehicle needs to be towed, contact a reputable tow company in your area to safely remove it from your property,” he added. “EVs and lithium-battery powered devices cannot be disposed of in a typical car lot or trash bin, so you will also want to contact your local government on the best locations for safe disposal.”

He also issued a plea to EV manufacturers in the United States to be proactive in notifying their customers of such risks.

“As I’ve stated before, these compromised vehicles and devices are ticking time bombs, and my office will continue to coordinate with federal, state, and local officials to ensure consumers and first responders are aware of these fire hazards following Hurricane Milton,” Patronis added. “After the storm, if you do have an EV that has been flooded by saltwater and it remains in your garage or near your home, please remove it immediately to a safe location so that you can worry about fixing your home, instead of rebuilding it due to fire.”

The fire marshal says to ensure safety, keep all windows and doors open to allow any flammable gasses to vent from the vehicle’s passenger compartment.

Other tips include, if stored indoors, moving the vehicle outside if possible; otherwise, keeping the area well-ventilated.

Do not charge the vehicle, and disable it by chocking the wheels, placing the gearshift in park and disconnecting the ignition key or 12V battery.

Avoid contact with high-voltage batteries, especially if there are signs of damage or overheating; and always follow the manufacturer’s guidelines for your specific vehicle.

Similar issues came to light after Hurricane Ian in 2022, when Patronis said many EVs were disabled.

“As those batteries corrode, fires start,” he said at the time. “That’s a new challenge that our firefighters haven’t faced before. At least on this kind of scale.”

EV fires after hurricanes were first reported following Superstorm Sandy in New Jersey in 2012.

Allen Zhong and Jacob Burg contributed to this report.

TAMPA, Fla.—Millions of displaced evacuees are bunkered inland. And more than 50,000 electrical linemen; 34 search-and-rescue teams; and thousands of National Guard soldiers, law enforcement officers, and first responders from more than 20 states are entrenched, poised to face a monster unlike any seen in Florida for decades.

As of mid-afternoon Oct. 9, the outer bands of Hurricane Milton were battering central Florida with increasingly heavy rains and thunderstorms sprouting strings of tornado alerts, the opening salvos of what will be a long night’s journey to a day that dawns on a violently reshaped landscape.

Milton at 7 p.m. was a category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained wind speeds of 120 miles per hour. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) expected Milton to make landfall as an “extremely dangerous major hurricane” sometime between 10 p.m. and midnight somewhere in southern Sarasota County, about 40 miles south of Tampa Bay.

On Oct. 9, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told residents still holding out in flood zones and surge areas that time was running out for them to get to safer ground.

“You still have time to make the decision to ensure your safety,” he said. “You do not have to get on the interstate and drive to Georgia. You don’t have to drive to Pensacola. You can go to a local shelter, which would be likely tens of miles away.”

Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie said 149 general shelters are open across the state. They can accommodate more than 200,000 residents, and as of 10 a.m. on Oct. 9, the total shelter population was approximately 31,000 people.

DeSantis said state officials have not yet picked an exact time when people should shelter in place because “it just depends on where you are and what the conditions are.” However, he said that conditions will worsen throughout the day.

“I would advise probably just [going] into the shelter right now, rather than trying to get on the interstate,” he said.

President Joe Biden urged Floridians in Hurricane Milton’s path to follow the safety instructions of local officials as the storm nears landfall.

“It’s looking like the storm of the century,” Biden warned in a live broadcast from the Oval Office on Oct. 9.

“I know it’s really tough to leave behind your home, your belongings, everything you own, but I urge everyone in Hurricane Milton’s path to follow all safety instructions as we head to the next 24 hours. It’s a matter of—literally—a matter of life and death.”

The NHC said Milton “is expected to still be a major hurricane ... likely to be a category 3 or 4 strength at landfall.”

Even though there will be some decay in wind force as the storm tears across Florida, NHC said that “Milton is anticipated to move off the east coast of Florida on Thursday still as a hurricane.”

The Tampa Bay area, home to more than 3.3 million people, has not been directly hit by a hurricane for more than 100 years. Spans of central Florida to its east, along Interstate 4 from Lakeland to Daytona, have not seen winds topping 100 miles per hour since 2004’s Hurricane Charley.

Many areas on the state’s Gulf Coast, including Tampa, remain swamped from Hurricane Helene’s storm surge. Streets in some communities are lined with debris—potential missile hazards when Milton comes ashore.

Outside Tampa’s mandatory evacuation zones, residents gathered at Pach’s Place on the morning of Oct. 9 for breakfast.

Owner Cathy Maes told The Epoch Times that her objective was to make sure that people in the neighborhood, people staying in the adjoining Tahitian Inn, and local Tampa police officers had a warm meal.

Even as the most powerful storm to possibly ever hit Tampa Bay approached, Pach’s Place regulars found their way to their usual tables, and the morning’s conversations filled the air with a sense of normalcy.

Maes said she was not surprised at all by the amount of regulars who were there.

Thursday, Oct. 10, will be the first day she has closed her restaurant since she purchased it from her mother in 2018. She even kept her doors open during COVID-19.

“It pains me,” she said, “but for the safety of my crew, I just can’t do that. They love me and I love them, and that’s why they love me, because I don’t make it risky for them.”

But she told The Epoch Times that once the storm passes, her cafe community will come back together, and staff and patrons alike will be ready to help each other recover from yet another storm.

She told The Epoch Times that the home of one of her waitresses got flooded during Hurricane Helene, and that the community not only came together to help clean out her home, but also raised thousands of dollars in a GoFundMe to help her get back on her feet.

“One by one, we'll go and do whatever we can, and it’s beautiful, and we do it with a joyful heart,” Maes said. “Everyone’s happy to just be able to help financially, some physically, but we help with all kinds.

“So we‘ll wait till Friday to see what everyone needs. And it’ll just take one scenario at a time. That’s all we can do.”

All Creatures, Large and Small

ZooTampa closed on Oct. 7, two days ahead of Milton’s anticipated landfall.

Keepers worked to execute their hurricane plans to make animals as ready as possible to ride out the storm in safety. The zoo plans to reopen on Oct. 11.

Larger animals were moved to their night houses, which are built to withstand major storms, ZooTampa Communications Director Sandra Morrison told The Epoch Times. Smaller mammals and birds were tucked away in other buildings.

During the storm, a “ride-out team” was planning to stay on-site to care for the animals.

This summer, ZooTampa earned special certification from the National Weather Service for being storm-ready. The facility reported that it was the first Florida zoo not affiliated with a theme park to receive the recognition.

A little way north, in Ocala, the World Equestrian Center opened yet again to equine evacuees.

“We don’t have a final count yet, but should be around 2,500 horses that we were able to accommodate,” Leah Tong, marketing director, told The Epoch Times.

“Our equine operations team has been working tirelessly all week to process reservations and ensure owners are finding their stalls. We are prepared and ready to ride out the storm.”

Ahead of Milton, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission told animal-concerned residents how to help wildlife in the storm’s path.

“The best way people can stay safe and help wildlife under storm conditions is to be alert and give wildlife their space,” spokeswoman Lisa Thompson wrote in an email to The Epoch Times. “People should not attempt a wildlife rescue during or after a hurricane or tropical storm if that would place them in a potentially dangerous situation.”

She wrote that after the storm, “if you come across wildlife that you suspect may be injured or orphaned, you should note the location and contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator in your area.” And if you cannot reach a rehabilitator, you can contact the FWC Regional Office in your area for further guidance.

People who see injured, sick, orphaned, or dead sea turtles, manatees, dolphins, panthers, or bears always are asked to call the agency’s wildlife alert hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922).

Across the state, animal shelters in low-lying areas had been moving their furry residents to higher ground.

The Alachua County Animal Resources staff posted on social media: “We are completely blown away by the overwhelming response we received to our storm foster plea! We sent out over 60 animals today. ... We can NEVER thank you, our community, enough for stepping up and helping us EMPTY THE SHELTER!”

A “very small handful of dogs” remained, and staff said they still hoped to find foster homes for those animals before closing.

Waiting for Milton

In Jacksonville Beach, on the far east end of Milton’s projected romp across Florida, resident Judi Spann and her husband are riding out the storm just four blocks from the shore, but they said they aren’t too worried about the three to five feet of storm surge anticipated for that area.

“Amazingly, we are technically not in a flood zone, so that is good for us,” Spann told The Epoch Times.

She noted that during past storms, when their area was expected to flood, they evacuated, only to return and find their house untouched.

This time, since Jacksonville is falling north of Milton’s projected path, the couple are staying put.

“What we’ve done to prepare is we have our generator, and we’ve gassed that up,” Spann said. “We’ve filled both of our cars with gas. We have extra gas tanks that we’ve filled up, in case the power does go out for a long period of time.”

While the generator won’t power their whole house, it should be enough to keep their refrigerator and freezer running, along with their cell phones and a few lights.

They have also stocked up on emergency supplies, drained some of the water from their pool, and brought in all of their outdoor furniture.

Now, they’re just hoping for the best—for themselves and their fellow Floridians.

She said she’s particularly worried for those on the Gulf and barrier islands who were forced to evacuate ahead of the storm. The possibility that they could return and find that their homes are gone—“that’s just a horrible feeling,” she said.

Sarasota Bracing

The New College of Florida, situated right on the coastline, could also sustain severe damage.

In anticipation of the deadly deluge, the college evacuated its entire campus on Oct. 7. The only staff who will stay for the storm are campus police, according to New College Communications Director Nathan March.

“After the storm subsides, critical staff will return and assess the campus and form the plan for restoring operations,” March told The Epoch Times. “The most important thing is all students, faculty, and staff have had time to ensure their physical safety for the storm.”

Storm Surge of Rumors

He cautioned people to dismiss false claims, such as a rumor of “collusion” between the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and a security team that will not let people back into their homes after the storm has passed.

Not only is that untrue, DeSantis said, but FEMA plays no role in such decisions. The state, not the federal government, is completely in charge of responding to natural disasters.

The governor signed an executive order last week that specifically states that anyone evacuated has “a right to immediately return to your home following the storm” as “a default,” he said.

“This is your private property,” DeSantis said. “This is your home. You have a right to go back. So that’s in our executive order.”

According to DeSantis, this rumor is concerning because it encourages people not to evacuate.

“I think most people are wise to this,” he said. “We live in an era where if you put out crap online, you can get a lot of people to share it, and you can monetize that. That’s just the way it is. But if you’re hearing things, something that’s just outrageous, just know in the state of Florida, none of that stuff would ever fly. So you don’t have to worry about that.”

Similar waves of misinformation have plagued Helene response and recovery efforts, most notably in western North Carolina, where FEMA has been accused online of all sorts of misdeeds and actions, even of using helicopters to stop private groups from bringing supplies to suffering people.

None of it is true, FEMA Region 10 Director Willie Nunn, the senior agency official in the Southeast, told The Epoch Times.

“We do not have any air assets or ‘FEMA helicopters,’” he said as he prepared to board a flight from South Carolina to Tallahassee, where he’ll be stationed in the state’s emergency management center.

FEMA is not a first responder in an emergency, Nunn explained. The federal agency’s role is to provide support in preparation and in the response, and then to coordinate the recovery efforts.

“We work with the state, whatever request they have, the agency will meet it,” he said, adding that FEMA will pre-position anticipated supplies and resources by coordinating with the state about where those evacuations will be.

“So we can look at where they are deploying so we can be pre-postured,” he said. “We are in lockstep with the state.”

If there are bottlenecks in getting supplies and assistance to disaster zones, the responsible parties are not federal agents but those in charge—local and state emergency management officials.

Nunn said that when people hear or read things on social media about FEMA, they should keep two things in mind.

“One, if it’s not helping people before, during, or in the aftermath,” then FEMA is not involved, he said. “Second, listen to local officials that you trust.” Those trusted officials know what is happening, not the federal government in Washington, he said.

The agency has set up several “rumor control” tags on its website, including Rumor Response.

Wayne Sallade, former emergency management director for Charlotte County, Florida, said combating misinformation in an emergency is part of the job.

“Well, let’s understand one thing: All disasters are local until such time that the local emergency managers say the locals can no longer handle it,” said Sallade, who lectures on emergency management through Colorado Mesa University. “Let’s use Buncombe County, [North Carolina], for an example. It was quickly understood this was beyond their capability to respond, and that it fell upon the state to respond.”

Some of the criticism levied at FEMA in North Carolina underscores how the state, not the federal agency, spearheads emergency response.

Sallade said there’s a difference between North Carolina’s response and Florida’s response to Helene because Florida was better prepared and knew the storm would hit. No one had any idea the storm would do what it did in western North Carolina, he said.

“I do think there is a lot of misinformation out there,” he said. “FEMA, they’re not first responders. It’s not their role. FEMA is being vilified and some of it isn’t fair.”

Sallade said he knows “FEMA people” who are “not even wearing their shirts because they become targets.”

“It’s one of those things you have to swing through the punches,” he said.

“I know Florida is as prepared as it can be. DeSantis has been a remarkable responder. He’s always been ahead in this game. He and the state are showing it again.”

“When you do this for 30 years, you can’t just walk away and go cold turkey,” he said, noting he has 50,000 Facebook followers tracking Hurricane Milton with him.

DeSantis, during his Oct. 9 morning update, repeatedly emphasized that the state is leading the response and that the state is making any and all decisions in guiding that response.

As the governor, his authority under an emergency declaration means that all responsibility is on his shoulders alone.

“I know there’s been a lot of stuff about what FEMA has done in other states,” DeSantis said. “I don’t know, but I can tell you, in Florida, we are leading this train. FEMA is not leading this show. We are leading this show.”

Hurricane Milton is projected to make landfall in the Tampa area late Wednesday, in what Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said will be the “storm of the century.”

The National Hurricane Center noted that Milton appeared to be growing in size as it approached Florida’s west coast. It is currently a Category 4 hurricane and is expected to weaken slightly to a Category 3 when it makes landfall.

Milton is expected to bring violent storm surges with flooding as high as 15 feet in some areas.

The strong winds have also produced multiple tornadoes, and experts are predicting collateral wind damage in a wider-than-expected area as Milton makes landfall.

Below are live looks as the storm approaches.

Traffic cameras in affected areas, courtesy of The Associated Press:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMvZaapg9UY

Hurricane tracker and live footage of Clearwater Beach, St. Petersburg, and the University of Tampa, courtesy of PBS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JhtuIMcWpk

Live looks in impacted areas, courtesy of Fox 9:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiqaaiseH2I

Fox Live Now with live coverage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T25BNn58b84

YouTuber and space enthusiast Launch Pad with live feeds in St. Petersburg and other areas: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmZUAe9u5kc

A live view from Jimmy Crow’s Nest, a bar in Clearwater Beach:

https://www.youtube.com/live/8D8jN3wde6E

CNBC is streaming live traffic footage alongside radar and press conference updates:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzQ7_n8sp1M

A four-way view from beaches on Florida’s west coast, courtesy of YouTube channel Livestream Events:

https://www.youtube.com/live/Yu9hC5MokCA?si=pDbYi3TYL3czrhd2

Live views from Tampa and other affected areas, courtesy of YouTube channel Cruise Ships Live:

https://www.youtube.com/live/HbkR1n6QZDQ

A Satellite View with live radio updates, courtesy of YouTube channel Livestream Events:

https://www.youtube.com/live/UC5qUJATOco?si=WSoDxvbj0otM1tlJ

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Florida’s chief financial officer warned that Hurricane Milton could cause damage totaling as much as $20 billion in the state as the Category 4 storm continues to churn toward the Florida Gulf Coast.

Milton is forecast to strike near the Tampa Bay area late on Oct. 9 or early on Oct. 10, according to forecast models from the National Hurricane Center. While it has weakened from a Category 5, officials say the storm is expected to hit the state as a major hurricane, meaning a Category 3 or greater.

Jimmy Patronis, the state’s chief financial officer and fire marshal, told Fox Business that the expected damage depends on the exact location of where the storm makes landfall.

“It really depends on how the impact and damage of the storm is. Right now, as the path of the storm that is proposed, you’re looking at somewhere north of $10 [billion], maybe $20 billion worth of insured losses,” he said on Oct. 8.

“The [insurance] carriers in the state of Florida, they have been able to raise the type of capital in order to handle the storm. We’ve got nine new companies coming into the state.”

Insurance rates for certain locations in Florida are likely to see a rise after Milton hits. But Patronis said there will be a post-Milton “rebate system in place” to help homeowners and property owners.

“The individual has to apply before March 1 in order to get that rebate back. If your home is not as [valuable] as it was pre-storm, then you shouldn’t be paying taxes on a home that was not harmed. So if your home was harmed, you will have a discount,” he said.

State and federal officials have warned that Milton could be the most destructive hurricane to hit the Tampa area, home to more than 3 million people, in more than 100 years. Officials around Tampa have warned residents in multiple counties to evacuate this week, noting that storm surge could be more than 10 feet in some locations.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference on Oct. 9 that “unfortunately, there will be some fatalities.”

“I don’t think there’s any way around that,” he said.

Insured losses could reach at least tens of billions of dollars, with the potential for more than $75 billion in losses if the storm directly hits Tampa as a Category 3 or stronger storm, according to an estimate from BMO Capital Markets.

The ratings agency Moody’s estimates that insured losses from Helene could reach up to $14 billion. Flood insurance is typically excluded from most homeowners’ policies, and the U.S. government administers most of the nation’s flood insurance. Moody’s estimates that the National Flood Insurance Program’s losses from Helene could reach $2 billion.

Also, Milton will be making landfall in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which caused havoc across Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. Unlike Milton’s expected path, Helene hit a much less-populated area.

Inland areas at higher elevations, especially in western North Carolina, faced catastrophic flooding, and many homeowners lacked flood insurance. That will limit the number of claims to be paid out.

Hurricane Katrina, which slammed into New Orleans and the surrounding Gulf Coast in 2005, was the costliest storm to ever hit the United States. Insured losses measured $102 billion after adjusting for inflation, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

Insured losses from Category 4 Hurricane Ian, which hit the west coast of Florida in September 2022, were estimated at more than $50 billion.

Meanwhile, the state is focused on getting search and rescue efforts underway after the storm hits Florida, Patronis told Fox Business.

“We’ve got resources in from all corners of the country, 1,200 urban search and rescue first responders preparing to deploy out as soon as the storm passes,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Officials in Florida issued stark warnings to would-be looters during Hurricane Milton that they could get shot or arrested.

“Florida will not stand for looting—we will not stand for it. We will come after you,” Mark Glass, commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, told reporters on Wednesday morning.

A day earlier, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that “if you think you’re going to go in and loot, you got another thing coming,” noting that Florida is a “Second Amendment state.”

“If you go into somebody’s house after the storm passes, think that you’re going to be able to commit crimes, you’re going to get in really serious trouble. And quite frankly, you don’t know what’s behind that door in a Second Amendment state,” he said during a news conference.

Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly, meanwhile, told a news conference on Wednesday that for “criminals who think they can prey on our communities, just remember that we have extra deputies [who] are on patrol ... and we have lots of cameras.”

“Stay out of Flagler County if you think you can commit a crime,” he warned, adding that people who commit property crimes will “ride out this storm” in the “county jail.”

Similar warnings have been issued by DeSantis and other Florida officials in previous years. “This part of Florida, you’ve got a lot of advocates and some proponents of the Second Amendment. And I’ve seen signs in different people’s yards in the past after these disasters, and I would say it’s probably here, ‘You loot, we shoot.’ You never know what’s behind that door,” the governor said in 2023.

In 2022, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd called on armed homeowners to shoot potential looters until they look “like grated cheese” in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, which hit Florida’s western coast.

There were sporadic reports of looting in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall along the Florida Panhandle in late September. That included at least eight men who were arrested in eastern Tennessee for burglarizing multiple homes, officials said.

Milton weakened to a Category 4 storm on Wednesday morning, said the National Hurricane Center (NHC). The storm, which is expected to make landfall on Wednesday night or early Thursday, has 145 mph winds and is expected to bring storm surge levels up to 12 feet, according to the NHC.

“We would like to emphasize that Milton’s exact landfall location is not possible to predict even at this time, particularly if the hurricane wobbles during the day and into this evening,” the NHC said in a forecast discussion.

It is threatening the Tampa Bay area, which is home to more than 3.3 million people and has managed to evade a direct hit from a major hurricane for more than 100 years. Milton is also menacing stretches of Florida’s west coast that were battered when Helene came ashore on Sept. 26.

President Joe Biden, who postponed an overseas trip so he could remain at the White House to monitor Milton, warned it “could be one of the worst storms in 100 years to hit Florida.”

With Milton expected to remain fairly strong as it crosses Florida, hurricane warnings were extended early Tuesday to parts of the state’s east coast.

Tropical storm warnings were issued as far north as Savannah, roughly 200 miles from the projected path of the hurricane’s center.

Storm surge of 2 to 4 feet was forecast for Georgia communities including St. Simons Island, home to nearly 16,000 people, and Tybee Island, which has a population of 3,100. Wind gusts of up to 45 mph could break off large tree limbs, topple shallow-rooted trees, and cause scattered power outages, according to the National Weather Service.

The Associated contributed to this report.

Hurricane Milton, a strong Category 4 storm as of Wednesday morning, could forever change Florida’s Gulf Coast, according to a recent release issued by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Researchers with the USGS noted that 95 percent of Florida’s western coast sandy beaches are going to be “continuously covered by ocean water” as Milton slams into the state later Wednesday.

“This is the most severe level of coastal change,” the agency warned on Monday.

Milton’s storm surge and waves both have the potential to “cause both 100 percent of all ocean-facing beaches in Florida to experience erosion and overwash,” which means that water levels reach higher than the top of sand dunes.

“When a beach is overwashed, sand can be pushed and deposited inland, causing significant changes to coastal landscapes and blocking roadways,” the USGS said. “Overwash can reduce the height of protective sand dunes, alter beach profiles, and leave areas behind the dunes more vulnerable to future storms.”

Kara Doran, a USGS supervisory physical scientist, said that Milton’s impact on the Florida west coastline “cannot be overstated,” noting that some areas that were affected by Hurricane Helene could face more serious damage.

“Our initial analysis looking at imagery collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration after Helene shows most of the west coast experienced overwash or inundation and complete erosion of dunes, so those protective dunes are no longer in place for many locations,” she added.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported Wednesday at 9 a.m. ET that Milton, with 155 mph winds, is just 2 mph shy of a Category 5 hurricane and is moving to the northeast toward the Florida Gulf Coast at 16 mph.

A large area of storm surge with 10-feet inundations or greater is expected across a part of the central-western Florida coast, the NHC said, adding that people who live in areas where a storm surge warning is in effect should leave as soon as possible. Some officials, including Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, have warned this week that people who remain in those areas face the possibility of death.

The Florida Highway Patrol also said that “heavy traffic patterns are flowing northbound and eastbound on all roadways” Tuesday afternoon as people continue to evacuate in advance of the hurricane.

“For those wishing to evacuate, the time is now,” the agency said in a statement. “Otherwise, finalize your storm preparations now.”

“Now is the time to rush to complete all preparations to protect life and property in accordance with your emergency plan. Ensure you are in a safe location before the onset of strong winds or possible flooding. Ensure you have multiple ways to receive weather warnings,” the NHC said.

While Milton will likely weaken somewhat as it nears Florida, the NHC warned in a separate discussion that “there is high confidence that Milton will remain a very dangerous hurricane when it reaches Florida, and maintain hurricane status as it moves across the state.”

Milton’s forecasted trajectory wobbled slightly Tuesday, which means it could make landfall Wednesday a bit south of Tampa Bay, according to the most recent forecast discussion from the NHC. Still, the whole region is expected to get slammed.

Meanwhile, people who don’t live near the coast but who live near a body of water are being advised to evacuate.

“We’ve seen a lot of questions about, ‘well I live on a creek,’ or ‘I live on a river, is it really going to get 10 to 15 feet where I live?’” Sarasota County Emergency Management Chief Sandra Tapfumaneyi said in a briefing on Wednesday.

“That storm surge is going to start at 10 or 15 feet near the coastline and then it’s going to travel,” she said. “And storm surge likes to go on the path of least resistance. So those of you that live near a river, that live near a creek, those river banks, their water will come up.”

Hurricane Milton is joining a long list of damaging storm systems that have altered Florida’s coastline, including hurricanes Irma, Ian, Michael, Matthew, and more, according to the USGS.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Floridians were scurrying on Oct. 8 to prepare for a second devastating hit in as many weeks. But this time they expected a storm unlike any the hurricane-hardened residents in the central swath of the state have seen in 20 years.

With Hurricane Milton barreling toward a projected Tampa Bay-area landfall—the first in a century—residents in coastal evacuation zones still inundated by Hurricane Helene’s sideswipe were being urged to flee.

But the main escape routes, Interstate 75–running from the bottom of the state to the top and beyond–and Interstate 4, which stretches across the state, intermittently left drivers at a standstill for miles.

Residents inland along Milton’s forecast track—tracing I-4 from Lakeland through Orlando and onto Daytona Beach—were hustling to hunker down in advance of winds expected to reach 110 miles per hour.

The storm is expected to claw ashore like a raging banshee unlike any in the region since Hurricane Charley in 2004.

“It’s been very taxing on our citizens to have to go through this. Just as you’re starting to pick up the pieces from Helene, now you see another monster storm bearing down,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “But we’ll get through this.”

More than 8,000 Florida National Guardsmen, the entire state police force, municipal search-and-rescue teams, and others are all assembling, ready to be dispatched to meet Milton when it comes.

And 40,000 linemen are staged or en route from as far away as California to help restore power after the storm.

“All that will be there ready to go,” DeSantis said. “So, we’re prepared for this.”

He emphasized repeatedly during media engagements throughout the day that those told to evacuate along the coast and along rivers should go to shelters.

Not having a car shouldn’t be a reason to stay in a dangerous area, the governor said. Arrangements had been made, he said, for Uber to carry would-be evacuees to safety.

“You can get free rides to and from shelters in counties with active evacuation orders,” DeSantis said. “They did this with Hurricane Helene. They’re now doing it with Hurricane Milton, Use the promo code miltonrelief. One word: miltonrelief.”

Determined to Stay

South Tampa residents Daryl and Mary Davis told The Epoch Times they planned to evacuate Tuesday after deciding to stay put during Hurricane Helene.

Despite being in Evacuation Zone A—marked by Hillsborough County emergency planners as an area most susceptible to flooding—the couple said Helene was the first time their home had flooded in the 40 years they’ve been there.

“There’s nothing left in there,” she said of her home. “I mean, the air conditioner’s on. We never lost power… but literally, the floors are all stripped, and we’re kind of like, down to bare bones, and got everything up as high as we can.”

Helene’s record storm surge exceeded six feet. It put 18 inches of floodwater into the Davises’ home. Now, Hurricane Milton threatens to bring 10 to 15 feet of storm surge into the nearby bay.

“The storm doesn’t bother me at all,” her husband said. “It’s just the surge.”

But their daughter is worried.

So the Davises will split up for the storm: she will go to Orlando, and he will stay close to home and take care of their two cats.

Several neighbors chose to stay during Helene, but were evacuating this time around, they said.

If necessary, they said, they would rebuild.

“I don’t want to go any place else,” she said. “It’s fine. Forty years. I figure, maybe it’s my due.”

Getting Above the Storm Surge

He lives on the 10th floor of a downtown Tampa high-rise, he said. He can park his car on the 5th floor, well above the projected storm surge.

Vasaturo has worked at Westshore Pizza in South Tampa since 2007. It was among the few restaurants that quickly reopened after Hurricane Helene.

The restaurant had a little water damage after the first storm, he said. It had reopened for carry-out orders, but not for anything else.

The word “OPEN” was spray-painted on the pizza joint’s boarded-up windows. The plan was to remain open on Oct. 8 until 8 p.m.

“We board up all the things that we’re not using and got all that done, and then we’re going to board up the last things when we walk out,” Vasaturo said.

Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister applauded residents who were evacuating as requested from the east and north sides of Tampa Bay.

“I see the long lines at gas stations,” Chronister said. “I see the long lines at grocery stores and supply avenues. You’re getting your essential items. You’re heeding the warnings. Thank you for doing that.”

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department (HCSO) was working with the Florida Highway Patrol to keep traffic moving along I-4 and I-75. Deputies also were maintaining a presence in evacuation zones and were providing security at shelters.

Chronister predicts everyone in Hillsborough County will feel Milton’s wrath.

“It doesn’t matter where it makes landfall, we’re going to feel the catastrophic effects: 125 to 130 mile-per-hour winds, rain of 5 to 10 inches, storm surge from 10 to 15 feet,” he said. “You must be prepared.”

Risking Death

“Most of the buildings in Florida are able to handle [the winds of] a Category 3 storm,” DeSantis said, referring to the state’s Miami-Dade building code standards adopted in Hurricane Andrew’s wake in 1992.

But Helene’s remaining debris poses a problem.

Since the storm, local governments have been working to pick up storm debris, often with the help of contractors, DeSantis said.

But the effort wasn’t moving fast enough.

“This weekend, I took all of our state agencies—any truck we had anywhere in the state involved in normal missions. We diverted it over to those barrier islands. We’re doing a 24/7 debris mission,” he said.

“So we’ve been able—in 48 hours with our state assets—to do as much debris removal as any of the contractors who have been doing this for almost two weeks.”

It meant state officials “had to pry open one of the landfills in Pinellas County because it wasn’t operating 24/7 as my executive order” required, he said.

Seeking Shelter

“You do not have to get on the interstate and drive hundreds of miles. There are shelters open all throughout the state of Florida. In your county, there are shelters that are on higher ground and that are hurricane-proof.”

Throughout Central Florida, drivers faced long lines at gas stations. And at many, bags over nozzles signaled the pumps were dry.

The depletion of fuel was temporary, DeSantis said during an interview on Fox News early on Oct. 8.

Trucks carrying gasoline, escorted by Florida Highway Patrol officers, were on the way.

“It’s not a supply issue. It’s a distribution issue. Because the stations are running through it faster than they normally do,” he said.

“We have a billion-and-a-half gallons that are either in Florida or en route in reserve. Our Port of Tampa is still open. It’s still going to be receiving fuel.”

​​Marcos Gleffe, 41, of Englewood in Charlotte County, decided not to evacuate, despite “nerve-wracking” news reports about Milton. His home sits about 80 miles south of Tampa Bay.

“I live in a really, really, old area,” he told The Epoch Times. “Most people are in their 60s. My neighbor across the street, she’s in a wheelchair.”

Gleffe is hunkering down at home. His wife and daughter evacuated to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, days ago.

As an able-bodied construction worker, he said he would much rather stay and be able to help, rather than fight the traffic trying to get back in after the storm—especially considering the devastation left by Hurricane Helene.

“With all the emergency that’s happening in North Carolina and everything, we don’t know what’s going to happen, how long it’s going to take for help to get here,” he said.

Gleffe’s house is just far enough from the Gulf that he doesn’t anticipate too much flooding. The winds, however, could be brutal.

“The risk of tornadoes, 125 mile-per-hour wind gusts—it’s stressful. But at the end of the day, I feel like being here and helping out,” he said.

He figures his stocked-up supplies could last him two or three months.

Still, with every hour that Milton maintains major hurricane status, Gleffe grows more nervous.

“I’m scared,” he said. “Every minute that goes by, it feels like an hour, and I’m like: Am I making the right decision?”

The last time a hurricane was projected to hit Tampa Bay, it ended up in Charlotte Harbor not far from his city. That storm was a Cat 4 that tore up the Peace River Valley, before dropping into the Atlantic, then turning to slug the Carolinas.

Worries About Pets

Along State Route 17 in South Lakeland, one of the nation’s fastest-growing areas, with thousands of new subdivisions and a recently completed two-year road grid alignment, many gas stations were out of fuel.

Beth Livingston of Willow Oak, a Tampa suburb, was grateful to have found the 20-pump gas station next to Walmart. She was relieved it had no more than a 10-minute wait for fuel in lines stretching onto two roads, including busy State Route 17.

A retired Warner University professor, who once hosted TamTalk on a Clearwater radio station, Livingston said her home is in an evacuation zone. But she can’t go anywhere, she said.

“We have a pet rescue,” she said. “No hotel or shelter is going to take us and all the animals.”

Research after Hurricane Katrina showed that 44 percent of respondents who didn’t evacuate said it was because they didn’t want to leave pets behind.

However, after Katrina, a federal law was passed requiring states to include pets in disaster plans.

All counties in Florida have at least one pet-friendly hurricane shelter, DeSantis said repeatedly in briefings.

Even “abandoned pets” at animal shelters in Milton’s path have been moved to “safer shelters in other parts of the state,” he said.

But Livingston said she has too many animals and she’s not leaving them behind.

And Milton is going to be bad, she said.

Maybe it will change course, maybe not, she shrugged. It’s a hurricane. It goes where it goes.

”He’s the weatherman,” Livingston said, pointing to an uncertain sky of threaded gray, vanguards of an unfolding storm.

‘Hide From the Wind’

But it’s been at least 20 years—since Charley—since the region was forecast to take the pummeling Milton was predicted to deliver.

There is no evacuation for most in the middle of the state. There is only hunkering down and fortifying against what could be 12 or more hours of 110-mile-per-hour winds.

“You run from the water,” DeSantis said during an interview. “You hide from the wind.”

Shane Bucknor of Winter Haven wasn’t worried as he filled up his truck at Murray’s.

“I’m used to this sort of stuff—I’m from the islands,” he said. Before a storm, getting gas is just part of his routine. He cuts lawns as a side hustle from his construction job.

Time is money. So those with fuel can get to work sooner once the storm has passed.

If he misses some construction work, he said, “I’ll spend that time with my kids.”

But it would only be a brief pause.

“If anything, this is going to create more work for me,” Bucknor said.

Bonnie Gadsby, a longtime Lakeland resident with a new home in South Lakeland, wasn’t fretting about flooding. It was the wind that worried her.

Milton “is a little bit bigger than what we’re used to having, something not seen here since Charley,” she said. But she was confident her new home, built to Miami-Dade standards, would withstand the storm.

That won’t be the case for everyone in this neck of the woods, Gadsby said.

“We’ve had hurricanes. But nothing like this.”

No Plans to Prepare

All daily lottery tickets have been “put up, walked away,” but can still be purchased online, she said. The store has no propane, no ice, and without gas, few customers.

Smith said she had no idea what tomorrow will bring … or the day after. That’s always a mystery anyway, she shrugged.

“Personally? No. I have no plans or preparation,” she said. “But it’s all right. I’ll deal with whatever comes, whatever happens.”

At the Wawa convenience store on Florida 17, there was much displeasure among those waiting in idling cars on access roads and along the highway when they learned there was no more regular gas.

But those at its 20 pumps know a secret that won’t last long: some pumps still have premium.

“I’ll pay the extra,” Delbert Strechtner of Lakeland said. “I have two generators and a dozen Tampa refugees at my place. The wife is shopping for an army and this is my job. I think I got off easy.”

Fellow Lakeland resident McClaine Geraci filled up with whatever he could find that could carry away gas.

He’s a former U.S. Navy aviation ordnance man, who served deployments aboard the USS George H.W. Bush. Working amid fires, fuel, and explosives on a swaying flight deck was a routine hazard.

But there’s something not routine in the air in central Florida. Something wicked this way comes, he sensed.

Milton will be Geraci’s third hurricane since getting out of the Navy in August and moving to Lakeland to work with a start-up pool maintenance firm, America’s Swimming Pool Company.

Pool maintenance is going to be important in the days and weeks after Milton, he said. If water is disconnected, there will be issues in keeping pools clean.

But many are likely to be entangled with crushed lanai screening, with mangled frames becoming missile-hazards during the blow, entangled in trees or in debris fields that will glaze a suddenly, violently reshaped landscape.

No matter what, Geraci and his teammates will be working, he said, “as soon as we can get out.”