Are you in Florida now? Check if you´re in an evacuation zone.
Gov. DeSantis has suspended tolls on roads so that yáll can get out of Dodge quicker - Live updates at AP. Godspeed.
I-75 near Fort Myers, FL courtesy of
https://www.wctv.tv/2024/10/07/florida-leaders-urge-people-listen-evacuation-orders-ahead-milton/
Live updates: Hurricane Milton strengthens into a Category 5 as Florida begins evacuations
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated 4:11 PM GMT-3, October 7, 2024
Milton rapidly strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane Monday in the Gulf of Mexico on a path toward Florida, threatening a dangerous storm surge in Tampa Bay, leading to evacuation orders and long gas lines, and lending more urgency to the cleanup from Hurricane Helene, which swamped the same stretch of coastline less than two weeks ago.
Here’s what to know:
Evacuation orders: Officials said they are preparing for the largest evacuation since Hurricane Irma in 2017 when about 7 million Floridians left their homes. Florida’s Division of Emergency Management offers this list of which counties are impacted.
Expected landfall: The storm’s center could come ashore Wednesday in the Tampa Bay area, and it could remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida toward the Atlantic Ocean, forecasters say.
Category 5 meaning: Homes and industrial buildings in the path of the hurricane could see “complete roof failure” and mobile homes could be “completely blown away.”
In Fort Myers, a miles-long line of vehicles was attempting to flee on Interstate 75
BY FREIDA FRISARO
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South of Fort Myers, I-75 heads east across what’s known as Alligator Alley before splitting off toward either Fort Lauderdale or Miami.
By early afternoon, many gas stations near I-75 in Fort Myers were already out of fuel. And there were long lines of people trying to stock up on supplies at the local Home Depot and Walmart stores ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall.
2:50 PM GMT-3EVACUATION ZONES
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has suspended tolls on roads across much of the state to help people more quickly evacuate
BY FREIDA FRISARO
The tolls have been waived for seven days, starting Monday morning.
“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 Monday.
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2:41 PM GMT-3EVACUATION ZONES
In Fort Myers Beach, people are working to board up and leave before Hurricane Milton arrives
BY FREIDA FRISARO
Early Monday afternoon, about two hours before a mandatory evacuation order took effect, stragglers and workers in Fort Myers Beach were working feverishly to board up and leave before Milton and its’ possible surge arrived.
The beach town on Florida’s Gulf Coast was already a near ghost town, with U-Haul trucks lining the neighborhood streets and pulling away.
This is neighborhood two blocks from the Gulf was ravaged by Hurricane Ian’s surge two years ago.
Older homes that survived Ian stand next to new homes that were rebuilt over the past two years. Half-built homes stand next to vacant lots.
“This whole street used to be filled out with houses,” said Mike Sandell, owner of Pool-Rific Services. His workers were removing the pool pump and heater from a residential pool, and planning going to put it on the home’s second floor so it wouldn’t get washed away by any surge from Hurricane Milton.
“These are all the kinds of things that got washed away two years ago,” Sandell said. “We’re down here trying to help the best we can. We’ve been in business here for 20 years.”
2:03 PM GMT-3EVACUATION ZONES
In central Florida, there’s a stream of vehicles heading north on Interstate 75
BY KATE PAYNE
That’s the scene on the interstate Monday afternoon as residents were already heeding the pleas of local and state officials to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Milton.
In some stretches, the flow of traffic slowed considerably due to the sheer number of cars, semi-trucks and recreational vehicles trying to get out of harm’s way. Emergency officials are telling those in the storm’s path to consider evacuating tens of miles rather than hundreds of miles away, in part due to concerns that traffic could snarl evacuation routes and leave motorists stranded.
read more and keep up with live updates throughout the week at:
https://apnews.com/live/hurricane-milton-florida-tracker-updates