By Daniel Trotta and Bo Erickson
(Reuters) – Florida on Sunday prepared for the state’s largest evacuation since 2017 as Tropical Storm Milton intensified in the Gulf of Mexico on its path toward Florida’s western coast, coming on the heels of the devastating Hurricane Helene.
Milton was expected to reach hurricane strength by the time of its projected landfall on Wednesday morning, most likely hitting near the heavily populated Tampa Bay area, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
It had the potential to affect areas already wrecked by Helene, which made landfall further north on Sept. 26.
Tropical storm-force winds could hit Florida’s Gulf Coast by Tuesday night, the hurricane center said.
“Milton is forecast to rapidly intensify during the next couple of days and become a major hurricane on Monday,” the hurricane center said.
Kevin Guthrie, the director of Florida’s emergency management division, urged people to prepare for the “largest evacuation that we have seen most likely since 2017 Hurricane Irma.”
“I highly encourage you to evacuate,” Guthrie told Floridians in a press conference.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned of a potentially higher storm surge and more power outages from Milton compared to Helene, and said destruction from Helene could be compounded.
“There are some areas with a lot of debris that is there, so if you get hit with a major hurricane, what’s going to happen to that debris? It’s going to increase the damage dramatically,” DeSantis said. “This is all hands on deck to get that debris where it needs to be.”
DeSantis called attention to the unusual, eastward direction of the tropical storm.
Milton was about 815 miles (1,310 km) west-southwest of Tampa as of 1 p.m. CDT (1800 GMT) on Sunday, packing maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 km), the National Hurricane Center said.
It warned people in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, mainland Florida, the Florida Keys and the northwestern Bahamas to monitor the progress of the storm.
North Carolina, Florida and much of the U.S. South is still recovering from the massive destruction of Helene, which killed more than 200 people across six states, making it the deadliest named storm to hit the mainland United States since Katrina killed nearly 1,400 people in 2005.
U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday he ordered another 500 active-duty troops to move into western North Carolina and assist with the Helene response and recovery efforts, increasing the number of military personnel to 1,500.
They join a massive state and local recovery effort plus 7,000 people from the federal workforce and 6,100 National Guard personnel from 12 states who have been deployed to the region, according to the White House.
The Biden administration has approved $137 million in federal assistance and promised more aid would be forthcoming as the economic damage will soar into the billions of dollars.
