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CV NEWS FEED // Hurricane Milton strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane early this week. It is set to make landfall on Florida’s west coast on Wednesday.
The news of Milton’s impending arrival comes as much of the American Southeast, including Florida, is still dealing with the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene – which tore through the region in late September and resulted in at least 200 deaths.
According to The New York Post, the new hurricane has the potential to be “the worst in over 100 years for parts of west-central Florida.”
The resulting damage will be catastrophic if the storm remains at its current strength by the time it hits land.
A Monday report from the Post indicated: “More than 15 million Floridians were under threat from Milton, which has winds up to 160 mph, as the storm took aim at Tampa and St. Petersburg — threatening 8 to 12 feet of deadly storm surge.”
“The worst surge was expected to hit between the Anclote River north Clearwater and Englewood north of Fort Myers,” the report specified.
The Associated Press (AP) reported: “Officials said they are preparing for the largest evacuation since Hurricane Irma in 2017 when about 7 million Floridians left their homes.”
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Milton formed this weekend and swiftly intensified at a rate that CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam called “quite frankly mind-boggling.” It became a Category 5 hurricane at noon on Monday.
Van Dam further noted that the storm in fact doubled “the criteria for rapid intensification in just about a day’s time.”
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency in the vast majority of the state’s counties – 51 out of 67.
DeSantis wrote on X (formerly Twitter) late Monday morning that the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FLSERT) “is addressing more than 600 resource requests from communities in the storm’s path.”
“We are deploying truckloads of food and water, ambulances, Starlinks, and more than 2,000 feet of flood protection systems to protect critical infrastructure in Central Florida and the Tampa Bay area,” DeSantis noted.
Starlink is a constellation of satellites operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
“We are also amassing an additional 1.5 million gallons of fuel reserves and staging them to be utilized as needed,” the Florida governor continued:
The Division of Emergency Management, Florida Department of Transportation, Florida National Guard, Florida State Guard, and the Florida Highway Patrol have been activated and deployed to aid in this mission. Nearly 9,000 cubic yards have been removed from the barrier islands of Pinellas County, and the work will continue for as long as it’s safe to do so.
“As per my Executive Order on Saturday, local landfill and dump sites must remain open 24/7 to safely dispose of debris from Hurricane Helene,” DeSantis emphasized. “We have no time for bureaucracy and red tape.”
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In a news conference the previous day, DeSantis stated: “We just had a major hurricane, Helene, that hit in the Big Bend of Florida,” adding that many people living on the state’s west coast “saw a major storm surge, major damage.”
He said “local governments have been working on” removing the significant amount of debris in the state that had resulted from Helene. “But we also understand that this debris creates a hazard if we then get another storm in the same area,” DeSantis said:
So, the executive order orders all disaster debris management sites and landfalls in all counties impacted by Helene to remain open and to allow 24-hour debris drop off.
I’ve also directed state personnel and assets to work around the clock to assist local entities as they continue cleanup and dispose of debris from Hurricane Helene.
