Fearful residents flee Tampa Bay region as Hurricane Milton takes aim at Florida coast

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Fearful Florida residents streamed out of the Tampa Bay region Tuesday ahead of what could be a once-in-a-century direct hit from Hurricane Milton, as crews worked furiously to prevent furniture, appliances and other waterlogged wreckage from the last big storm from becoming deadly projectiles in this one.

Tuesday marked the last chance for millions of people in the Tampa metro area to prepare for lethal storm surges, ferocious winds and possible tornadoes in a place that has narrowly avoided a head-on blow from a major storm for generations.

"Today's the last day to get ready," said Craig Fugate, a former FEMA director who previously ran the state's emergency operation division. "This is bringing everything."

Governor Ron DeSantis said the state deployed over 300 dump trucks that had removed 1,300 loads of debris left behind by Hurricane Helene by Tuesday afternoon.

In Clearwater Beach, Nick Szabo spent a second long day hauling away 3-foot (0.9-meter) piles of soggy mattresses, couches and drywall after being hired by a local resident who was eager to help clear the roads and unwilling to wait for overwhelmed city contractors.

"All this crap is going to be missiles," he said. "It's like a spear coming at you."

After weakening slightly, Milton regained strength Tuesday afternoon and became a Category 5 storm again, with winds of 165 mph (265 kph). It could make landfall Wednesday night in the Tampa Bay area, which has a population of more than 3.3 million people.

The 11 Florida counties under mandatory evacuation orders are home to about 5.9 million people, according to estimates from the US Census Bureau.

Fluctuations in the storm's intensity are likely while Milton moves across the Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center said, but it is expected to be a dangerous storm when it reaches Florida.

Milton's forecasted trajectory also wobbled slightly Tuesday, which means it could make landfall Wednesday in the less populated areas a bit south of Tampa Bay, according to the center.

Still, the whole region is expected to get slammed by the storm.

It is difficult to predict an exact landfall location even about a day before it's expected to come ashore. Predictions can be off by a little over 60 miles (96 kilometres), the hurricane center said.

Those who defy evacuations orders are on their own, and first responders are not expected to risk their lives to rescue them at the height of the storm.

"You do not have to get on the interstate and go far away," DeSantis told a news conference, assuring residents there would be enough gasoline to fuel their cars for the trip. "You can evacuate tens of miles. You do not have to evacuate hundreds of miles away."

Milton is forecast to cross central Florida and to dump as much as 18 inches (46 centimetres) of rain while heading toward the Atlantic Ocean, according to the hurricane center. That path would largely spare other states ravaged by Helene, which killed at least 230 people on its path from Florida to the Carlin's.

The arrival of back-to-back hurricanes that rapidly intensified into mighty storms comes as climate change exacerbates conditions that are allowing them to thrive in warming waters. Milton is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which started June 1.

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