Florida residents flee to escape Hurricane Milton approaching

With more than a million residents in coastal areas under evacuation orders, those fleeing to higher areas blocked highways and gas stations in the region still recovering from the consequences of the Hellenic hurricane less than two weeks ago.

The storm is designed to strike the Metropolitan area of Tampa Bay, where more than three million people live, although predictors said its route could change before affecting the land in late hours Wednesday evening or early Thursday morning, local times.

The president of the United States, Joe Biden, and the head of Tampas, Jane Castor, warned people in the evacuation areas to flee or risk death.

Michael Tylenda, who was visiting his son in Tampa, said he was responding to this counsel.

If anyone knows anything about Florida... when you're not evacuated after being ordered, you're likely to die”, Tilenda said. “There were a lot of people who stayed in their homes and ended up drowning. It's not worth it. The house can be replaced. Things can be replaced. So you'd better get out of town”.

Milton is expected to maintain force as a hurricane as he crosses the Florida Peninsula, also bringing storm danger to the Atlantic Coast of the state.

About 2.8 percent of US gross domestic production is on Milton's direct route, Ryan Sweet, chief US economist at Oxford Economics, said. The airlines, energy companies and a Universal Studio Park are among the companies that have banned their operations in Florida while preparing for interruption.

The damage Helen caused in Florida just a few weeks ago.

Milton became the third storm with the fastest intensifying in Atlantic history, moving from Category 1 to Categorine 5 in less than 24 hours.

“These extremely warm sea surface temperatures provide the fuel needed for the rapid intensifying we saw happening”, said climate scientist Daniel Gilford, from Climate Central, a non-profit research group. “We know that while people increase the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, mainly by burning fossil fuels, we are increasing that temperature across the entire planet”.

Heavy traffic blocked roads leading out of Tampas on Tuesday, when about 17 percent of Florida's nearly 8,000 gas stations were left without supplies, according to fuel markets monitor GasBuddy. / REL