5 million residents evacuated in US as Hurricane Milton approaches
Hurricane Milton is approaching the US coast, which could become the most destructive in history. Florida authorities called on 5.5 million residents to urgently evacuate. And President Joe Biden due to the rampant nature canceled planned visit to Germany and Angola. A state of emergency has been declared.
Millions of Americans ordered to evacuate
Mass evacuation began on Monday, October 7. Forced departure of at least 5.5 million residents will one of the largest in state history.
“This hurricane is a disaster, and I will say without any dramatization: if you choose to stay in one of these evacuation zones, you will lose your life,” warned Tampa Mayor Jane Castor. “If you’re going to get out, get out now,” echoed Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Residents were asked to take shelter in the nearest shelters and not to travel far into the interior of the country. To avoid traffic jams, tolls on motorways have been abolished. Cars were also allowed to drive on the side of the road. However, all this did not help much. “It took three hours to drive 37 miles (60 kilometers),” said Connie Leasure, who drove from her home in Largo, Florida, to Pennsylvania. “If you go off the highway, you can’t get back,” warned she.
At local gas stations formed kilometer-long queues, and almost half of them are already out of fuel.
Hurricane Milton may be assigned an unprecedented sixth category of danger
A cyclone has formed in the Gulf of Mexico and is moving towards the west coast of the United States. Meteorologists estimate it could become “the worst storm in Florida’s history in at least 100 years” if the winds don’t change. According to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), Milton is moving at a speed of 14.5 kilometers per hour, with wind gusts reaching 287 kilometers per hour.
The so-called “eye of the storm” must achieve sushi in the area of 300 thousand people in the city of Tampa on the night from Wednesday to Thursday. Showers Wednesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center. may lead to flooding in the central and southern parts of the state.
The hurricane could be the most destructive in history and reach the as-yet-unexistent sixth category of danger. Due to the wind, there may be no electricity for several weeks. warn local authorities.
The greatest danger is storm surge. “The underwater topography of Florida’s west coast is well understood, and it is one of the worst places in the country for storm surges. Our colleagues in the weather department very accurately describe the storm surge as “turning into the ocean,” says the correspondent Fox News in Florida Britta Merwin.
Everything around me will end up at the bottom of the ocean. And the streets here are still littered with debris from homes damaged during Hurricane Helen. All these beams, frames, and garbage cans will be picked up by the water and carried at high speed deep into the peninsula. Buildings in the storm surge zone will have to survive not only flooding, but also heavy impacts from floating furniture, boards and all kinds of debris
At the same time, the state has not yet managed to eliminate the consequences of Hurricane Helen, which passed through two weeks ago. It’s already called one of the most destructive in the entire history of the country. So far it is second only to Hurricane Katrina, which killed about two thousand people in 2005.
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