By TERRY SPENCER and HAVEN DALEY
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Milton weakened slightly Tuesday but remained a ferocious storm that could land a once-in-a-century direct hit on the populous Tampa Bay region with towering storm surges and the power to turn debris from Helene’s devastation into dangerous projectiles.
Most of Florida’s west coast was under a hurricane or tropical storm warning as the system and its 150 mph (240 kph) winds spun just off Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, creeping toward shore and sucking energy from the Gulf of Mexico’s warm waters. With the storm expected to remain fairly strong as it crosses Florida, the hurricane warnings were extended early Tuesday to parts of the state’s east coast.
Milton’s center could come ashore Wednesday night in the Tampa Bay area, which has a population of more than 3.3 million people. The county that’s home to Tampa ordered areas adjacent to the bay and all mobile and manufactured homes to be evacuated by Tuesday night.
“You do not have to get on the interstate and go far away,” Gov. Ron 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. You do have options.”
In Riverview, several drivers waiting in a long line for fuel Tuesday morning said they had no plans to evacuate.
“I think we’ll just hang, you know — tough it out,” said Martin Oakes, of Apollo Beach. “We got shutters up. The house is all ready. So this is sort of the last piece of the puzzle.”
Ralph Douglas, of Ruskin, said he, too, will stay put, in part because he worries he would run out of gas trying to return after the storm or get blocked by debris.
“Where I’m at right now, I don’t think I need to evacuate,” he said.
DeSantis said the state has been scrambling to remove wreckage from Hurricane Helene before Milton strikes to avoid the risk of flying pieces of debris. The state has deployed over 300 dump trucks that have removed 1,200 loads of debris and continue to work around the clock, he said.
After dawn Tuesday, trash trucks trundled up a nearly deserted street in normally bustling Indian Rocks Beach to gather mounds of debris. Sheriff’s deputies used a loudspeaker to urge anyone left to escape as soon as possible. In Clearwater Beach, a fleet of excavators and dump trucks got to work around 6:30 a.m. to haul away piles of waterlogged couches, mattresses and appliances.
Nick Szabo said he was hired to help clear the roads. His team had hauled away some 260 tons of debris Monday and planned to keep working all day Tuesday. Anything left behind will be “like a spear coming at you,” he said.
“It feels good to help,” Szabo said.
The National Hurricane Center downgraded Milton early Tuesday to a Category 4 hurricane, but forecasters said it still posed “ an extremely serious threat to Florida.” Milton intensified quickly Monday, becoming a Category 5 storm for a time.
Forecasters warned that the sea could surge as high as 15 feet at Tampa Bay, leading to evacuation orders for beach communities all along the coast. In Florida, that means anyone who stays is on their own and first responders are not expected to risk their lives to rescue them at the height of the storm.
The state has helped evacuate over 200 health care facilities in Milton’s path, and more than 30 county-run shelters are open, DeSantis said.
At the Tampa airport, John Fedor and his wife were trying to catch a cab to a storm shelter after missing multiple flights home to Philadelphia. They had hoped taking a Caribbean cruise would bring them closer, but tensions were rising after they spent nearly $1,000 on unplanned transportation and hotel rooms due to travel delays. After a two-mile walk to the airport, Fedor’s suitcase cracked open and the wheels broke.
“We looked into driving home, taking the train home, but nothing worked out,” John Fedor said. “We’re kind of like stranded here.”
Milton is forecast to cross central Florida and to dump as much as 18 inches (46 centimeters) 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 Appalachian Mountains.
Tampa Bay has not been hit directly by a major hurricane since 1921, and authorities fear its luck is about to run out.
President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Florida, and the White House announced Tuesday that he would postpone a trip to Germany and Angola to monitor Milton, “given the projected trajectory and strength” of the storm. U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor said 7,000 federal workers were helping in one of history’s largest such mobilizations.
“I need people to listen to their local officials to get out of harm’s way,” said Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “People don’t need to move far. They just need to move inland.”
Stragglers were a problem during Helene and Ian in 2022. Many residents said they evacuated during previous storms only to have major surges not materialize. But there was evidence Monday that people were heeding the warnings to get out before Milton arrives.
Vehicles streamed north on Interstate 75, and traffic clogged the southbound lanes for miles as other residents headed for relative safety on the other side of the state, though nearly all of Florida is expected to see some of Milton’s effects.
The National Hurricane Center on Tuesday extended its storm-surge warning south along Florida’s east coast to Port Canaveral, and a tropical storm watch was issued for the extreme northwestern Bahamas.
About 150 miles (240 kilometers) south of Tampa, Fort Myers Beach was nearly a ghost town. Ian devastated the community two years ago with its 15-foot (4.5-meter) storm surge. Fourteen people died there. On Monday, the few residents who remained raced to safeguard buildings and belongings. None planned to stay.
Signs of Ian remained visible. Rebuilt homes stood next to others in various stages of construction. Construction supplies such as bricks, pipes and workers’ outhouses lined the streets, potential projectiles that could do further damage in a surge or high winds.
At the beach Monday, workers busily emptied a general store called the Goodz. Owner Graham Belger said he moved his “Your Island Everything Store” into a trailer after Ian destroyed his permanent building across the street.
“We’ll rebuild, but it is going to be bad,” he said.
Meanwhile in Mexico, authorities in the state of Yucatan reported only minor damage from Milton, which remained just offshore early Tuesday. Power lines, light poles and trees were knocked down near the coast, and some small thatched-roof structures were destroyed, according to Yucatan Gov. Joaquín Díaz, but he did not report any deaths or injuries.
Spencer reported from Fort Myers Beach. Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Holly Ramer in New Hampshire, Curt Anderson and Kate Payne in Tampa, Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale, Seth Borenstein in Washington, and Mark Stevenson in Mexico City.
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