Floridians were racing on Oct. 8 to prepare for a second devastating hit in as many weeks, but this time from a storm unlike any the hurricane-hardened residents in the central swath of the state have seen in 20 years.
With Hurricane Milton barreling toward a projected Tampa Bay-area landfall—the first in a century—coastal evacuation zones still inundated by Hurricane Helene’s storm surge sideswipe were being urged to flee.
Residents board up a sea shell store ahead of Hurricane Milton's expected landfall in the middle of this week in Treasure Island, Florida, on October 7, 2024. Florida's governor declared an emergency on Saturday as forecasters warned that Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall later this week. BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images
Interstate 75–running from the bottom of the state to the top and beyond–and I-4, stretching from side to side, intermittently left escaping drivers at a standstill for miles.
Residents inland along Milton’s forecast track—tracing I-4 from Lakeland through Orlando and onto Daytona Beach—were hustling to hunker down for winds of up to 110 miles per hour.
“It’s been very taxing on our citizens to have to go through this. Just as you’re starting to pick up the pieces from Helene, now you see another monster storm bearing down,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “But we’ll get through this.”
More than 8,000 Florida National Guardsmen, the entire state police force, municipal search-and-rescue teams, and others are all assembling, ready to be dispatched to meet Milton when it comes.
DeSantis emphasized repeatedly during media engagements throughout the day that those told to evacuate along the coast and rivers should go to shelters.
“You can get free rides to and from shelters in counties with active evacuation orders,” DeSantis said. “They did this with Hurricane Helene. They’re now doing it with Hurricane Milton, Use the promo code miltonrelief. One word: miltonrelief.”
The Danger is Real
As always, some won’t leave their homes.
South Tampa residents Daryl and Mary Davis told The Epoch Times they planned to evacuate Tuesday after deciding to stay put during Hurricane Helene.
Despite their home being in Evacuation Zone A, the couple said Helene was the first time it ever flooded in the 40 years they’ve been there.
“There’s nothing left in there,” she said of her home. “I mean, the air conditioner’s on. We never lost power… but literally, the floors are all stripped, and we’re kind of like, down to bare bones, and got everything up as high as we can.”
Helene’s record storm surge exceeded six feet and put 18 inches of floodwater into the Davises’ home. Now, Hurricane Milton threatens to bring 10 to 15 feet of storm surge into the nearby bay.
“The storm doesn’t bother me at all,” her husband said. “It’s just the surge.”
When asked if they planned to come back and rebuild, they said yes.
“I don’t want to go any place else,” Mary said. “It’s fine. Forty years. I figure, maybe it’s my due.”
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister applauded residents who were evacuating as requested from the east and north sides of Tampa Bay.
“I see the long lines at gas stations,” Chronister said. “I see the long lines at grocery stores and supply avenues. You’re getting your essential items. You’re heeding the warnings. Thank you for doing that.”
Those refusing to evacuate from coastal areas and along rivers risk death, DeSantis said. He also was worried about debris from Helene becoming missiles during Milton’s march across Florida.
Seeking Shelter
Those in low-lying evacuation zones who haven’t fled yet shouldn’t consider staying in their homes simply because they’ve heard some roads are clogged, or fuel is scarce, he said.
“You do not have to get on the interstate and drive hundreds of miles. There are shelters open all throughout the state of Florida. In your county, there are shelters that are on higher ground and that are hurricane-proof,” DeSantis said.
Throughout Central Florida, drivers faced long lines at gas stations. And at many, bags over nozzles signaled the pumps were dry.
The depletion of fuel was temporary, DeSantis said during an interview on Fox News early on Oct. 8. Trucks carrying gasoline, escorted by Florida Highway Patrol officers, were on the way.
“It’s not a supply issue. It’s a distribution issue. Because the stations are running through it faster than they normally do,” he said.
“We have a billion-and-a-half gallons that are either in Florida or en route in reserve. Our Port of Tampa is still open. It’s still going to be receiving fuel.”
The last time a hurricane was projected to hit Tampa Bay, it ended up in Charlotte Harbor, not far from his city. That storm was a Cat 4 that tore up the Peace River Valley before bouncing out into the Atlantic and turning to slug the Carolinas.
Memories of Hurricane Charley were very much on the minds of people in Lakeland, about 30 miles east of Tampa. The city of 110,000 was abuzz with anxiety as residents hustled to prepare for whatever was to come.
Research after Hurricane Katrina showed that 44 percent of respondents who didn’t evacuate said it was because they didn’t want to leave pets behind.
However, after Katrina, a federal law was passed requiring states to include pets in disaster plans.
All counties in Florida have at least one pet-friendly hurricane shelter, DeSantis repeatedly said in briefings.
Even “abandoned pets” at animal shelters in Milton’s path have been moved to “safer shelters in other parts of the state,” he said.
Central Floridians between Tampa and Daytona Beach—in cities along I-4, such as Lakeland and Orlando—have been brushed by hurricanes that hammered ashore in Ft. Myers and Punta Gorda.
They’ve witnessed those that pounded the state’s Panhandle region in the north, such as Helene two weeks earlier. But it’s been at least 20 years—since Charley--that the region was forecast to take the pummeling Milton was predicted to deliver.
There is no evacuation for most in the middle of the state. There is only hunkering down and fortifying against what could be 12 or more hours of 110-mile-per-hour winds.
“You run from the water,” DeSantis said during an interview. “You hide from the wind.
–John Haughey; Nanette Holt; T.J. Muscaro; Samantha Flom; Stacy Robinson
SCOTUS TAKES UP ‘GHOST GUNS’
The Supreme Court heard oral argument on Oct. 8 over President Joe Biden’s attempt to regulate so-called “ghost guns” or firearms that are privately made without serial numbers and other aspects mandated more generally under federal law. The case is Garland v. VanDerStok.
Congress passed the Gun Control Act (GCA) of 1968, which mandated serial numbers for newly manufactured firearms. The Biden administration’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) issued a rule in 2021 that attempted to apply the law to weapons kits and items used to produce frames and receivers.
U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar asked the Supreme Court to reverse a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that held ATF’s regulation exceeded what Congress had authorized.
Western omelets came up on Oct. 8 as a way for Justice Samuel Alito to test the Biden administration’s attempt to classify weapons kits as a weapon as covered by the GCA. He asked whether various ingredients on a counter could constitute a Western omelet and whether a pen and pad of paper could be considered a grocery list.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett followed by asking about ingredients in a kit ordered by HelloFresh, which sends kits for cooking particular meals. Prelogar told her that was a more apt analogy than Alito’s, which she said was inapt because the items he mentioned were known to be used for purposes other than an omelet.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor seemed most sympathetic to Prelogar’s arguments, telling the solicitor general that agency letters had historically shown language that matched what ATF was saying under the Biden administration. Justice Clarence Thomas, by contrast, told Prelogar that while firearms hadn’t been “regulated in this way for half a century.”
The conversion of individual materials was a focal point of debate as it touched on when particular items could be considered a frame or receiver subject to regulation. At one point, Sotomayor told Peter Patterson, an attorney for Jennifer VanDerStok and other respondents, that he gave “your game away” on this issue.
Patterson had advanced a simple reading of the law that ruled out the administration’s application of Congress’ language to an unfinished frame or receiver. He added, however, that the justices could alternatively adopt legal tests that allowed them to look at how developed particular items were and their proximity to serving the operations of a firearm.
Barrett, at one point, told Patterson that one of the legal tests he proposed—called the critical machining test—seemed “a little made up.”
–Sam Dorman
BOOKMARKS
Vice President Kamala Harris announced on ABC’s “The View” on Oct. 8 that she wants Medicare to foot the bill for senior citizens’ home care. Harris said she hopes the move will provide relief for Americans facing the challenge of caring for elderly loved ones.
Police in Orange County, California, have arrested two suspects for two separate arson events, one near a non-denominational megachurch and another that consumed an acre of vegetation. The arrests come even as firefighters continue to battle a wildfire near the San Diego-Mexico border that sprang up on Monday.
$15.9 billion has been spent on federal 2024 election campaigns to date, making it the second most expensive election cycle in U.S. history. It is outstripped by the 2020 cycle, which cost $18.3 billion when adjusted for inflation.
Collateral damage continues to spread among associates of embattled NYC Mayor Eric Adams following his indictment on bribery and corruption charges. This time, it’s former senior liaison Mohamed Bahi, charged with witness tampering and destruction of evidence after he allegedly deleted his encrypted Signal messaging app and told associates to lie to the FBI.
President Joe Biden announced on Oct. 8 that he would invest $2.6 billion to replace lead pipes in the key battleground state of Wisconsin. The announcement, made in Milwaukee, was coupled with a proposed rule by the EPA requiring the removal of lead pipes nationwide over the next decade.
—Stacy Robinson
