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Millions of Florida residents, especially those along the state's Gulf Coast, were on the move Tuesday, heeding evacuation orders and trying to avoid Hurricane Milton.

Evacuees clogged portions of many of Florida’s main arterial highways, including Interstate 75 North, Interstate 4 East and Interstate 10 West. But while traffic moved slowly, it did move, allowing residents to get to safety.

Milton’s rapid strengthening – from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in the span of 24 hours – and warnings and evacuation orders from local officials produced a mass exodus Monday and Tuesday.

Milton was downgraded to a Category 4 storm Tuesday, but still carries dangerous winds of up to 145 mph and is poised to hit Florida late Wednesday or early Thursday morning with a catastrophic storm surge not seen in the last 100 years.

Another factor in residents’ decision to flee or stay: damage from recent hurricanes.

“I couldn’t go through another flood,” Julie Bost, 32, told the USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida. “I told my husband I couldn’t handle that again emotionally.”

Bost was a new mom with a three-month-old baby when her St. Petersburg home was flooded by Hurricane Idalia last year, causing $65,000 in damage. She threw everything away in her 3-month-old baby’s nursery.

On Sunday, she put her now 16-month-old and chocolate Labrador dog in the car and headed to Ponte Vedra Beach to stay with her sister. Her husband, a nurse in the intensive care unit at St. Anthony’s Hospital, planned to leave Tuesday evening after his last shift, she said.

As of Tuesday, mandatory evacuation orders were in place for at least parts of 11 counties along Florida’s west coast, stretching from Collier County in Southwest Florida north to Levy County along the Forgotten Coast.

Even Volusia County on the east coast has a mandatory evacuation order for parts of the area. Those counties are home to roughly 6.4 million Floridians, although not all of those areas were covered by the orders.

Inland counties, Miami-Dade also under some level of evacuation orders

Inland counties in central Florida also had voluntary evacuation orders and even in places like Miami-Dade County, where only the outer bands of the storm are expected to swipe by, residents in mobile homes were encouraged to seek shelter.

Another evacuee was Sabrina Sayed, who left Wesley Chapel, an inland community in Pasco County north of Tampa, with her two children and two big dogs Tuesday headed for Tallahassee.

“You can tell that the roads are a lot more packed than what they should be,” said Sayed, 37. “It shows people are taking it seriously.”

While Pasco County’s mandatory evacuation order for mobile homes, low-lying areas and flood zones didn’t cover her home, Sayed’s husband, who is in the National Guard and currently in California for training, urged her to head to Tallahassee.

She avoided the interstate and took U.S. Highway 19 north, seeing many cars with dogs in the backseat and packed with pillows.

Still, Sayed suspects some of her neighbors will stay and ride out the storm. She left her neighborhood at 6 a.m., but didn’t see anyone else on her street packing up.

State could open more shelter space if needed

Gov. Ron DeSantis and emergency management officials have emphasized that residents don’t need to drive far away to be safe from the storm, only inland enough to avoid the devastating storm surge from Milton, which is expected to reach 15 feet in some areas.

As of Tuesday there were 65 general population shelters and 18 special needs shelters open, mostly in coastal counties along the Gulf Coast. Early reports placed more than 10,000 Floridians in those shelters as of Tuesday afternoon.

Director of Emergency Management Kevin Guthrie is working to identify additional alternative shelters if more space is needed for Milton evacuees. DeSantis said Monday most of the shelter needs will come from areas in the direct path of the storm.

“If you’re in the Tampa Bay area, Bradenton, Sarasota – wherever this thing is likely going to make landfall, you will have options within your county,” DeSantis said.

“You can hunker down, but the further inland you go there’ll probably less demand for sheltering from the residents of places like Orange or Seminole just simply because they’re not in a flood zone or they’re not in danger for rising waters.”

For those who left, hoping to avoid Milton, there’s little left to do but wait out the storm – and think about those who stayed behind.

Bost is worried about residents who might not have a way out of St. Petersburg because their cars were destroyed by Hurricane Helene two weeks ago. As for all the new transplants to the Sunshine State, she hopes they take the evacuation orders seriously.

“I’ve lived in Florida my entire life, and I feel like when Floridians are getting out of Dodge, you should follow,” she said.

For more information

∎ Click here for a list of available shelters from the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

Ana Goñi-Lessan contributed. Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at grohrer@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer.

By Arek Sarkissian

10/08/2024 11:28 AM EDT

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday said he expects Hurricane Milton to unleash significant damage across the Florida Peninsula and that residents should prepare for the worst.

Hurricane Milton strengthened to a Category 5 storm on Monday with winds of 175 mph as it slowly moved toward Florida from the western Gulf of Mexico, although it had weakened to a Category 4 storm — which is still incredibly powerful — as of Tuesday morning. National Hurricane Center forecasters believe sudden changes in wind speeds closer to the coast could lead Milton to weaken just before landfall, but DeSantis said even a comparatively weaker storm is still expected to bring hurricane force winds across the peninsula as it moves toward Orlando and then the Atlantic coast.

DeSantis said during a morning news conference at the state Emergency Operations Center that weather forecasters did not predict Milton to grow from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane as quickly as it did. There’s also no guarantee the storm will weaken before hitting the state, as forecasters hope.

“Let’s prepare for the worst, and let’s pray that we get a weakening and hope for the least amount of damage as possible,” DeSantis said during the briefing. “But we must be prepared for a major, major impact to the west coast of Florida.”

Milton is forecast to make landfall on Wednesday, and the path of the storm takes it toward Tampa. The storm’s top wind speeds as of Tuesday morning hit 145 mph as it moved toward the state, about 500 miles out. Even with weakening, National Hurricane Center forecasters wrote in a morning report that Milton will still be a very dangerous storm well into the interior of the state.

“An increase in vertical wind shear will likely cause some weakening before the hurricane reaches Florida,” the NHC report said. “But there is high confidence that Milton will remain an extremely dangerous hurricane when it reaches the state.”

Milton would be the second hurricane to hit Florida in about two weeks, after Hurricane Helene hit the Big Bend region last month. While Helene hit mostly rural parts of north Florida, Milton is on track to hit one of the most heavily populated regions in the state. Pinellas and Manatee counties, which are along the Florida Gulf Coast, had already seen significant damage from coastal flooding brought by the first hurricane despite the fact that storm made landfall hundreds of miles away, and many of those areas were still cleaning up debris.

DeSantis summoned the Florida Department of Transportation to help cities and counties quickly pickup the debris, but much of it will remain alongside roadways as Milton hits the state.

“There’s still a lot and there will be a lot out there,” state Department of Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue said during the news conference. “But we’re going to keep working at it.”

Helene also left heavy damage in the mountains of North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, which led some debris removal crews to abandon the contracts they signed with cities and counties in Florida. This exodus led to delays in clearing roadways of mountainous piles of storm debris, state officials say, and it prompted DeSantis to call help from the state DOT.

Ahead of Milton, state Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said he planned to send a letter on Tuesday to FEMA asking to increase reimbursement rates for debris removal in hopes of attracting crews from further away from the state. Also, the incentives sought by DEM could lure contractors who had left Florida for other states hit by Helene back to the state for Milton, Guthrie said.

DeSantis and Vice President Kamala Harris have fought in the last day as the storm bears down on the state. NBC News reported Monday that DeSantis was not taking the vice president’s calls about storm recovery. Harris did not dispute the report on Monday, and accused the governor of “playing political games.” DeSantis denied skipping out on calls, saying on “Fox and Friends” Tuesday that he didn’t know the vice president tried to contact him.

“It’s not about you, Kamala,” he told the conservative network.

DeSantis and President Joe Biden spoke about the storm on Monday night, the White House said.

DeSantis on Tuesday said at his briefing that residents should also prepare for widespread power outages, as a growing army of line crews begins to stage in areas across the state. The state is anticipating up to 40,000 linemen to arrive from as far away as California before Milton makes landfall.

With widespread power outages and evacuations, communities will face the risk of looters, the governor said. But DeSantis added those looters should remember many Florida residents own guns.

“If you think you can go in and loot you’ve got another thing coming,” DeSantis said. “You don’t know what’s behind that door in a Second Amendment state.”

TALLAHASSEE - Florida officials implored Gulf Coast residents to follow evacuation orders and utilities prepared for widespread power outages as Hurricane Milton strengthened into a Category 5 storm Monday.

Milton is expected to hit the state late Wednesday or early Thursday, bringing punishing winds and massive storm surge. While the exact path is unclear, it could hit the heavily populated Tampa Bay area and remain a hurricane as it crosses the state and exits into the Atlantic Ocean.

During a news conference Monday morning, Gov. Ron DeSantis and state Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said it is vital for people to leave coastal areas — many of which sustained severe flooding in late September's Hurricane Helene. The National Hurricane Center said storm surges could reach 8 to 12 feet from the Anclote River, north of Tampa, to Englewood, which is at the border of Charlotte and Sarasota counties.

"Don't mess with the storm surge, and do what you need to do to keep yourself and your family safe," DeSantis said.

The state suspended tolls on highways in the Tampa Bay area, Central Florida and on Alligator Alley to help ease evacuations. The seven-day suspension began at 10:30 a.m. Monday.

Also, the state is taking steps such as preparing road shoulders to provide additional space for motorists to drive.

The hurricane center said the storm is forecast to weaken before landfall but that it is "still likely to be a large and powerful hurricane at landfall in Florida, with life-threatening hazards at the coastline and well inland."

Florida has ramped up debris-removal efforts and recalled emergency workers who provided aid in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene.

On Sunday Guthrie urged residents to immediately start putting storm plans in place, which could include evacuating farther inland.

"We are preparing, and I have the State Emergency Response Team preparing for the largest evacuation that we have seen most likely since 2017 Hurricane Irma," Guthrie said during a news conference at the state Emergency Operations Center.

In advance of Irma, an estimated 6.8 million people took to the road, resulting in large traffic jams on Interstate 95, Interstate 75 and Florida's Turnpike. Irma, which was a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, ran up the spine of the state after making landfall in the Florida Keys and on Marco Island.

Duke Energy Florida, which provides electricity in areas such as St. Petersburg, Clearwater and around Orlando, issued a news release Sunday urging customers to prepare for "extended outages" from Milton.

"Tropical Storm Milton's current path poses a major threat to communities along the state's West Coast," Todd Fountain, Duke Energy Florida storm director, said in a prepared statement. "We want to assure our customers our team is ready to respond. We will be mobilizing our mutual assistance crews from across the country to help with power restoration."

DeSantis said Sunday that utility crews are staging ahead of Milton. He said a storm traveling west to east in the area of Interstate 4 will result in "a lot of power outages. That is just something that I think people should prepare for."

As people evacuate in advance of the storm, Guthrie said the state plans to have emergency fuel and to identify places for refuge along evacuation routes. Also, the state Department of Transportation is activating all of its Road Rangers to provide assistance to motorists, Guthrie said.

"I know that many Floridians are still trying to recover from Hurricane Helene, and your plans for Milton need to reflect that," Guthrie said. "Did you go through all your water? Did you go through all your food? Did you go through all your pet food? Do you need to get new batteries? Please make sure you're doing that today."

DeSantis urged Gulf Coast residents to take seriously the expected arrival of Milton and directed state crews to work around the clock to assist in local debris removal.

"This debris creates a hazard if we then get another storm in that same area," DeSantis said.

DeSantis on Sunday expanded an executive order declaring a pre-landfall state of emergency to 51 of the 67 counties, up from 35 counties on Saturday. Part of the order requires debris-management sites and landfills in counties affected by Helene to remain open for 24-hour debris drop-off "to ensure as much debris from Helene is cleaned up and disposed of ahead of the coming storm."

On Monday, President Joe Biden issued an emergency declaration that will make available federal money. The order made money available to numerous counties and authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster-relief efforts.

DeSantis also called back Florida State Guard, Florida National Guard, Florida Highway Patrol, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission emergency workers who have been helping with Helene recovery efforts in North Carolina and Tennessee.

Helene made landfall Sept. 26 as a Category 4 hurricane in rural Taylor County, but it caused extensive damage in coastal areas as it moved up the Gulf of Mexico. After moving through North Florida and Georgia, it continued causing damage in the Carolinas and Tennessee.

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By: Alberto Camargo

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:

As Milton approaches Florida's Gulf Coast — Leon County will feel impacts in other ways.

I'm Alberto Camargo, your College Town neighborhood reporter.

Heavier traffic on the roads — hotels booked up — here's how Leon County could be impacted by thousands of people who may choose to go North.

At this local rest stop off I-10 — a constant churn of evacuees Monday.

Some came from southwest Florida, others are traveling as far as Austin, Texas to get away.

"The devastation was so awful, and I'm scared this one is going to be worse."

Theresa Scott says her neighborhood in Pasco County was hit hard by Helene — but Milton could devastate it.

That's why she left with her husband and pet.

"We may end up with nothing and that's OK. Property doesn't mean nothing. So long as I have him, and him, I'm going to be alright."

The Scotts are evacuating to Chipley in Washington County.

Here in Tallahassee, virtually every hotel is booked through the end of the week.

Leon County emergency leaders say some shelters could open from people forced to evacuate.

"We are coordinating with the American Red Cross for the possibility of making some space available, that has been open since Helene, for additional sheltering capacity."

Info on shelters opening in Leon County will be released through the Florida Department of Emergency Management or through the Red Cross first.

But Leon County will share the info through its online emergency portal, LeonReady.com and the Citizens Connect app.

In College Town, Alberto Camargo, ABC27.

Copyright 2024 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Nearly every hotel room in Tallahassee appears to be booked as Floridians attempt to flee the projected path of Hurricane Milton later this week.

Milton strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane by midday Monday, with winds up to 175 mph, and is expected to make landfall along the central western Gulf coast of Florida late Wednesday or early Thursday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami reported.

That forecast is driving Milton evacuees north to the capital and beyond. According to Booking.com, 98% of hotels in Tallahassee were booked for reservation dates spanning today through Wednesday.

When contacted, several hotel operators said they are full and others are at capacity, prompting them to hunt for other accommodations for guests in search of a landing spot.

"We've been monitoring this all morning," said Kerri Post, the head of Leon County's Division of Tourism and Visit Tallahassee. "Most hotels are sold out. Many of our hotels are still full or have significant or 50% occupancy or more remaining (due to) Helene workers here with Red Cross, insurance, etc."

Post also said another factor at play is a major cross-country track championship competition this weekend where more than 40,000 people are slated to attend.

"The hotels are getting cancellations. However, those rooms now are getting immediately filled up with evacuees," Post said. "So things are very fluid, but we will remain at capacity, most likely through the end of the week."

Laurence Smith, a guest service agent at Drury Plaza Hotel on Raymond Diehl Road, said the 180-room hotel began seeing a surge in reservations on Friday and was capacity by today.

"We have had a few cancellations here and there just due to people not being able to travel for the storm," Smith said. "But we've also continued to book up pretty fast."

Gov. Ron DeSantis said the most immediate demand for shelter space will be in coastal areas in the path of the storm, but he said some counties, particularly in the Panhandle, have volunteered to open their public schools or other suitable buildings as shelters if more space is needed.

Leon County Schools is monitoring the hurricane situation and there is currently no change in district operations. They are staying in contact with Leon County Emergency Operations officials about potential need to open "risk" shelters, but there are no current plans to close schools and convert them into shelters.

“We already have places that are outside the path of the storm that have volunteered to provide shelter and some of that may be schools some of that may be other things,” DeSantis said. “So you could see, in the Panhandle for example, you could see options for people.”

Kevin Guthrie, the state's emergency management director, is working to identify alternative shelters – such as abandoned JC Penney stores, DeSantis suggested – so residents don’t have to evacuate too far, but shelters in counties outside of Milton’s path could be needed, too.

“There’ll be a lot of different options but if there does need to be sheltering in other areas outside, I know there’s already been counties that have raised their hand and said I want to do that,” DeSantis said.

The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association is encouraging all public lodging establishments to relax or waive pet policies to ensure people will safely evacuate along with their pets. "While we cannot say where evacuees are fleeing, it is clear that many are coming north to the Tallahassee area," said Ashley Chambers, the FRLA's spokeswoman.

Chambers said VISIT FLORIDA can be a resource; the agency launched its "Emergency Accommodations" modules with Expedia and Priceline where hotels can self-report real time availability.

"Everyone wants to know availability," Chambers said. "The reality is that this changes moment by moment, so we encourage the usage of these links."

(This story was updated to add new information.)

Gray Rohrer contributed. Contact Economic Development Reporter TaMaryn Waters at tlwaters@tallahassee.com and follow @TaMarynWaters on X.