Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued in parts of counties along Florida’s west coast and even Florida’s east coast, including in Charlotte, Citrus, Collier, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lee, Levy, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas and Volusia.
Salvage workers remove debris from Hurricane Helene flooding along the Gulf of Mexico before Milton arrives, Clearwater Beach, Fla., Oct. 7, 2024.
Chris O’Meara/AP
“If you live in a storm surge evacuation zone and you’re asked to leave by your local officials, please do that,” Michael Brennan, the director of NOAA’s national hurricane center, told ABC News Live on Sunday. “You don’t have to drive hundreds of miles to get to a safe place, often just tens of miles to get inland, out of that evacuation zone, to a shelter, a friend or loved one’s home.”
Brennan also urged Floridians to prepare a disaster kit with several days’ worth of nonperishable food, water, medicine and batteries.
A resident boards up his windows ahead of Hurricane Milton’s expected mid-week landfall, in Palm Harbor, Fla., Oct. 6, 2024.
Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images