Hurricane Milton is moving toward the Florida coast, and before making landfall, Governor Ron DeSantis expanded evacuation orders. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) predicts that Milton will strengthen as it moves toward the state with “destructive winds.”
In the Gulf of Mexico, Milton became a Category 1 hurricane and is expected to strengthen into a “major hurricane” (Category 3 and above) before making landfall in Florida, the National Hurricane Center explained ( NHC).
Milton will pass the Gulf of Mexico between October 7 and 8
Milton’s exact path was unclear Sunday night, but officials across the state warned residents to prepare for the possibility of intensifying.
The NHC expects Milton to move north of the Yucatan Peninsula and cross the southern Gulf of Mexico between October 7 and 8, Deutsche Welle reported.
Authorities have already issued mandatory evacuation orders in areas of Pasco County and Anna Maria Island, near Tampa, while asking other residents to evacuate some buildings.
President Joe Biden was briefed on Milton’s progress and said in a statement that his Administration was preparing “life-saving resources.”
The governor of Florida extended the state of emergency
For his part, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis expanded the state of emergency declared the day before to 51 of the 67 counties in the area.
“We are fully prepared” to face the consequences of Milton, said the director of the Federal Natural Disaster Response Agency (FEMA), Deanne Criswell.
“We started preparing for this several days ago, even before (the storm) formed. “We know that he is heading directly to Florida,” he added during an interview on the network. ABC.
According to the NHC, “heavy precipitation will affect parts of Florida” even before Milton arrives. While it is “still too early to specify the exact scale and location of the most significant impacts,” the agency warns of the possibility of “destructive winds” and significant storm surge later in the week.
Four to seven hurricanes of category 3 or more
The United States Meteorological Observatory (NOAA) indicated at the end of May that the hurricane season – which extends from the beginning of June to the end of November – was shaping up to be extraordinary this time, with the possibility of between four and seven hurricanes of category 3 or more shared Deutsche Welle.
Emergency services continue to work to help the many victims of Hurricane Helene, the deadliest to hit the United States since Katrina in 2005. Helene, which peaked as a Category 4 hurricane, has so far caused 226 deaths on average dozen states in the southeast of the country and caused major flooding.
Hurricanes and misinformation
This new threat comes as US authorities struggle to counter an avalanche of misinformation about aid provided to disaster victims in the southeast, Deutsche Welle argued.
Former president and Republican candidate Donald Trump repeated accusations on October 5, also reported by Elon Musk, that the Democratic Administration had redirected aid funds intended for areas devastated by Hurricane Helene to dedicate them to programs in favor of migrants.
“It is frankly ridiculous and simply false,” the FEMA director responded on Sunday, lashing out at the wave of rumors that abound on social media on the subject. Trump had accused the North Carolina government and Democratic authorities earlier this week of “deliberately failing to provide assistance to residents of Republican areas.”
“The impact of fake news is worrying”
“This kind of rhetoric doesn’t help people,” lamented Criswell, concerned about the impact of this fake news on the work of emergency services. The affected people “are afraid to ask us for help or register for help,” he said. “And this has a considerable impact on the comfort of our teams (…) it is demoralizing,” he added.
Given this, FEMA and the authorities of North Carolina – the state most affected by the hurricanes – have created a page that deconstructs these false accusations, such as the one according to which homes that requested federal aid after the disaster could be expropriated.
Keep reading:
- Milton is already a hurricane: it will impact Florida on Wednesday
- Kirk strengthens and becomes a Category 3 hurricane in the Atlantic
- Helene deaths rise to 189 as it becomes deadliest hurricane since Katrina