Hurricane Milton building up to be a historic storm

Daily News Article — Posted on October 9, 2024

(from articles published Oct. 8, 2024) – Currently classified as a Category 4 storm in the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall near the Tampa and/or St. Petersburg areas of Florida by Wednesday night. Experts caution it could produce winds in excess of 120 miles per hour, huge storm surges and flying debris that still remains from the damage created by Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago.

As Hurricane Milton nears Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis has ordered the suspension of all tolls across Central and West Florida, as well as Alligator Alley, for those evacuating.

Governor DeSantis said during a morning news conference that state officials were working with fuel companies to continue bringing in gasoline ahead of Milton’s expected landfall on Wednesday.

“We have been dispatching fuel over the past 24 hours as gas stations have run out,” DeSantis said. “So we currently have 268,000 gallons of diesel, 110,000 gallons of gasoline. Those numbers are less than what they were 24 hours ago because we’ve put a lot in, but we have an additional 1.2 million gallons of both diesel and gasoline that is currently en route to the state of Florida.”

In addition, tolls were suspended for seven days as of 10:30 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 7. They will be reinstated on Monday, Oct. 14, at 12 p.m.

“With evacuation orders imminent, this will help keep traffic moving and be one less thing for people to worry about ahead of Milton,” DeSantis said.

The governor has also vowed to continue around-the-clock efforts to pick up debris from Hurricane Helene until it’s no longer safe to do so as Hurricane Milton approaches.

In a Tuesday afternoon briefing in Ocala, the governor said Florida Department of Transportation crews had just removed more than 1,300 truckloads of debris in just over 48 hours, which DeSantis called “a huge, huge amount.”

The cleanup effort is key to sparing communities more damage, DeSantis said.

“We’ve made a huge dent in this,” he said. “The more debris we can get picked up, the less damage that’s going to happen, whether that’s floating into the Gulf of Mexico, whether it’s projectiles that go into other buildings.”

Apart from the general shelters opening up across Florida, special needs shelters have begun opening across several counties ahead of Hurricane Milton’s anticipated landfall on Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

These types of shelters operate during emergencies — such as hurricane evacuations — for those with physical, mental or sensory disabilities, or for those with medical conditions, including those that require assistance but not hospitalization.

If the special needs patient has a caregiver, it is recommended that the caregiver accompany them if possible.

“These are different from a general population shelter,” Jae Williams, communications director of the Florida Department of Health (FDOH), told ABC News. A general population shelter is “a fortified structure that is going to keep you alive. It’s not going to necessarily maintain electricity or be comfortable, but it will keep you alive,” he added.

Williams said special needs shelters are opened at the request of local counties, but the staffing and operations of those shelters are spearheaded by the FDOH.

Tourism and airports

Universal said it would close its theme parks and entertainment district at 2 p.m. Wednesday and remain closed on Thursday. Walt Disney World said it was operating under normal conditions and planned, for now, only to close its campgrounds and rental cabins in wooded areas. [UPDATE: Disney World announced Tuesday afternoon its theme parks and entertainment complex will close Wednesday afternoon and will likely remain closed on Thursday.]

Twenty-five miles away, Orlando’s airport, the state’s busiest, announced that it will cease commercial service at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October 9. Although the city is in the eastern part of the state, the National Weather Service still expects it will get hit with hurricane-force winds blowing at more than 74 miles per hour.

“MCO will remain open only to accommodate emergency, aid, and relief flights as necessary,” it said in a service alert.

Tampa’s airport, the state’s fourth-busiest, had already closed to commercial traffic as of Tuesday. It lies directly in the path of the storm. Both airports said that they will resume service as soon as possible.

Six Florida airports have said that they’ll be cancelling service, besides Orlando and Tampa:

Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers (5th busiest) will shut down commercial service on Wednesday, October 9, and Thursday, October 10
Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (8th busiest) shut down on Tuesday, October 8 at 4:00 p.m.
Orlando Sanford Airport International Airport (9th busiest) is primarily used by Allegiant Air (ALGT-3.02%), which has been cancelling or delaying many incoming and outgoing flights
St. Pete Clearwater International Airport (11th busiest) will close after its last flight departs on Tuesday, October 8, and remain closed through Thursday, October 10

Hurricane Milton forces Bucs and Lightning to leave Florida early and other teams to alter games:

The NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning have left Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton to practice the rest of the week.

The Bucs departed Tuesday, relocating to New Orleans, where they’ll face the Saints on Sunday. The Lightning left for Raleigh, North Carolina, on Monday night to continue preparations for their season opener at home against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night.

At the college level, the American Athletic Conference announced that a football game between Memphis and South Florida at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa has been rescheduled from Friday night to Saturday. The conference plans to monitor conditions after Milton passes and adjust accordingly.

UCF’s Big 12 home football game vs. Cincinnati remains scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. EDT kickoff in Orlando on Saturday. ..

From multiple sources, including WRIC ABC8 News, WFST Tampa Bay ABC Action News, National Post, ABC News, Quartz News and USA Today.