Tampa Mayor Jane Castor Issues Dire Warning to Residents in Milton Evacuation Zones
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor appeared on CNN on Monday evening (October 7) and delivered a dire warning to residents in Hurricane Milton evacuation zones.
When asked by Kaitlan Collins what her No. 1 message was to Tampa residents, Mayor Castor responded, ” … You need to prepare. Do whatever you need to do, and then get out of the evacuation zones, which now are evacuation zones A and B. As we all have heard so many times now, you hide from the wind, and you run from the water.”
Mayor Castor continued, “We are talking about right now the possibility of a direct hit with a 10 to 12 foot tidal surge. To put that into perspective: Hurricane Helene, which just left the Tampa Bay area a week ago, there was a six foot storm surge, and that was literally devastating to so many in our coastal area.”
Collins then asked what she would say to residents who are planning on riding out Milton. Mayor Castor said, “I can tell you right now that they may have done that with others; there’s never been [a hurricane] like this. [Hurricane] Helene was a wake-up call. [Milton] is literally catastrophic. I can say without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you’re going to die.”
Mayor Castor continued, “This is something I’ve never seen in my entire life. And I can tell you that anyone that’s been born and raised in the Tampa Bay area has never seen anything like this before. People need to get out … If we have that predicted storm surge, it is not survivable.”
As reportedly earlier today (October 8), the National Hurricane Center (NHC) storm surge warning has been extended and includes the following areas:
- West coast of Florida from Flamingo northward to the Suwannee River, including Charlotte Harbor and Tampa Bay.
- East coast of Florida from Port Canaveral northward to the mouth of the St. Mary’s River, including the St. Johns River.
The NHC notes, “The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline.” NHC reports rising waters could reach the following heights in the following areas:
- Anclote River, FL to Englewood, FL…10-15 ft
- Tampa Bay…10-15 ft
- Englewood, FL to Bonita Beach, FL…6-10 ft
- Charlotte Harbor…6-10 ft
- Yankeetown, FL to Anclote River, FL…5-10 ft
- Bonita Beach, FL to Chokoloskee, FL…4-7 ft
- Suwannee River, FL to Yankeetown, FL…3-5 ft
- Chokoloskee, FL to Flamingo, FL…3-5 ft
- Port Canaveral, FL to Altamaha Sound, GA…3-5 ft
