Connect with us
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=12]

International

Evacuations urged in Tampa Bay ahead of Hurricane Milton

Published

5 months ago

4 minute read

From The Center Square

By 

“We’re talking about storm surge values higher than the ceiling,”  “Please, if you’re in the Tampa Bay area, you need to evacuate.”

Florida residents in and near Tampa Bay are strongly urged to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Milton, a Category 5 storm that could increase its intensity.

In the Atlantic Basin, Milton at 18 hours is the second-fastest storm to go from Category 1 to 5. Wilma in 2005 needed just 12. Milton’s maximum sustained winds measured Monday morning were 160 mph.

Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie in Tallahassee on Monday said the ceilings in the state’s emergency operations center were 10 feet, 8 inches tall. The surge forecast for Tampa Bay from the National Hurricane Center is from 8 to 12 feet.

“We’re talking about storm surge values higher than the ceiling,” Guthrie said. “Please, if you’re in the Tampa Bay area, you need to evacuate. If they have called for your evacuation order, I beg you, I implore you, to evacuate. Drowning deaths due to storm surge are 100% preventable if you leave. We had situations where people died of drowning in Hurricane Ian. Had they just gone across the bridge from Estero Bay, Sanibel Island and so on, just across the bridge to the first available shelter that had capacity, they’d still be alive today.”

According to the National Hurricane Center’s 8 a.m. advisory, the storm is packing winds of 160 mph and is predicted to make landfall on the Gulf Coast of Florida either Wednesday night or Thursday morning. If the storm continues to intensify, it could become a Category 5 storm.

Hurricane Helene landed in the Big Bend region on Sept. 26. While Florida took a wallop, the remnants did the most severe damage in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. At 236, the death toll is fourth most from a hurricane in America since 1950.

Gov. Ron DeSantis discussed Hurricane Helene debris removal from the Tampa Bay area after workers found one of the gates locked and unmanned at the Pinellas County landfall despite the two-term Republican’s executive order that required landfills to remain open 24 hours to accept wreckage.

The Florida Highway Patrol, according to DeSantis, “took matters into their own hands,” fastened some rope to the gate and ripped it open so trucks carrying debris could dump their cargo there. He said crews already hauled 500 truckloads with 9,000 cubic yards of Helene debris from the barrier islands in Pinellas County and 180,000 cubic yards statewide.

“We need as much of this debris picked up as possible, this creates a safety hazard, and it also will increase the damage that Milton could do with flying debris,” DeSantis said. “All local entities should comply with this order and work around the clock to accomplish this mission. We don’t have time for bureaucracy and red tape.”

DeSantis said 800 National Guardsmen have been activated for debris removal in coastal areas affected by Helene, with 5,000 already on duty and 3,000 mobilized prior to Milton’s landfall. He also said the state suspended all tolls in west and central Florida such as the tolled part of Interstate 75 known as Alligator Alley, which connects Naples on the Gulf Coast with Fort Lauderdale on the Atlantic Coast.

DeSantis issued an emergency declaration on Saturday for Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, Columbia, DeSoto, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Glades, Hamilton, Hardee, Hendry, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lafayette, Lake, Lee, Levy, Madison, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Nassau, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, St. Lucie Sumter, Suwanee, Taylor, Union and Volusia counties.

Related Topics:

Todayville is a digital media and technology company. We profile unique stories and events in our community. Register and promote your community event for free.

Follow Author

More from this author
Digital ID / 4 hours ago

Wales Becomes First UK Testbed for Citywide AI-Powered Facial Recognition Surveillance

conflict / 16 hours ago

Hamas, Palestinians paraded dead babies coffins through streets before handover to Israel

Health / 16 hours ago

RFK Jr: There’s no medical justification for vaccinating one-day-old babies for Hepatitis B

Digital ID

Wales Becomes First UK Testbed for Citywide AI-Powered Facial Recognition Surveillance

Published on February 23, 2025

By

Wales is that part of the UK the authorities have picked as the testbed for the first citywide deployment of what some consider to currently be the most radical form of mass biometric surveillance in public places – “AI”-powered live facial recognition.
What is likely to be the reason behind the “trial,” privacy campaigners are warning, is the eventual permanent deployment of this type of biometric surveillance throughout the country.
South Wales Police said that Cardiff will be covered by a network of CCTV cameras with facial recognition tech embedded in them, while the excuse is providing security during the international Six Nations rugby event. But the police also characterized the move as “semi-permanent.”
This appears to be a distinction between what the police in the UK have used thus far to carry out surveillance based on live facial recognition: vans with one camera.
The decision to move to position a host of cameras in the central zone of Cardiff makes this a significant expansion of the technique.
And while the police are reassuring citizens that expanding live facial recognition “really enhances” law enforcement’s ability to do their job –  the Big Brother Watch privacy group slammed the move as a “shocking” development and the creation of an “Orwellian biometric surveillance zone.”
And while capturing everyone’s biometric data, and in that way, according to Big Brother Watch’s Senior Advocacy Officer Madeleine Stone, turning Brits into “walking barcodes” and “a nation of suspects” – in terms of solving crime, this is proving to be a waste of public money.
“This network of facial recognition cameras will make it impossible for Cardiff residents and visitors to opt out of a biometric police identity check,” Stone underlined.
And yet, over the three years that live facial recognition has been in use at sporting venues (only) – the use of the technology has not led to any arrests.
“No other democracy in the world spies on its population with live facial recognition in this cavalier and chilling way,” Stone warned, adding, “South Wales Police must immediately stop this dystopian trial.”
The technology works by capturing the faces of every person passing through an area covered, in real time, to then compare them to a database of those described in reports as “wanted criminals.”
However, when South Wales Police spoke about who is on their “watchlist,” it also included people “banned from the area” and those “who pose a risk to the public.”
Continue Reading

conflict

Hamas, Palestinians paraded dead babies coffins through streets before handover to Israel

Published on February 22, 2025

By

MXM logo  MxM News

Quick Hit:

Hamas paraded the caskets of Israeli hostages, including what they claimed were the bodies of a mother and two young children, through the streets of Gaza before handing them over to the Red Cross. Videos show crowds cheering as armed terrorists carried the coffins as part of a prisoner exchange with Israel.

Key Details:

  • Videos from Khan Younis, Gaza, show Hamas and other terrorists parading four caskets, including those of two young children, before handing them to the Red Cross.
  • Crowds cheered as the terrorists, armed and unmasked, carried the coffins, with celebratory music playing in the background.
  • The deceased were identified as members of the Bibas family, including the youngest hostages from the October 7 attack.

 

Diving Deeper:

During a ceremony in Khan Younis, Gaza, Hamas paraded the caskets of Israeli hostages through the streets, including what they claimed were the bodies of a mother and her two small children. The display occurred before the remains were handed over to the Red Cross as part of a prisoner exchange agreement with Israel. Crowds of Gazans were seen cheering and celebrating as the coffins were carried by armed terrorists.

Videos from the event show masked militants loading a casket into a Red Cross aid truck, while another militant, adorned with symbols of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, filmed the procession. Another video shows adults and children waving and celebrating as Hamas fighters, armed and in trucks, paraded through the streets. Reuters footage also captured members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP) helping carry a casket, highlighting the involvement of multiple terrorist factions in the display.

Hamas presented the bodies as those of the Bibas family, who were captured during the October 7 attack. The children, aged four years and less than one year, were among the youngest hostages taken during the brutal assault that triggered the ongoing 15-month conflict. The fourth body was identified as 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz, according to Jewish News Syndicate. Hamas has repeatedly blamed the deaths on Israeli airstrikes, though no evidence was provided to support the claim.

Israel and Hamas are currently observing a temporary ceasefire agreement, facilitating the exchange of civilian hostages for Palestinian prisoners. Despite the ceasefire, Hamas has continued to celebrate the October 7 attacks, which resulted in the largest mass killing of Jewish people since the Holocaust. During the ceremony, a stage displayed a poster depicting Israel as a “Nazi Army,” underscoring Hamas’s longstanding agenda of hostility towards the Jewish state.

The shocking parade of caskets, accompanied by celebratory music and cheering crowds, has drawn international condemnation and further underscored the brutal nature of Hamas’s actions. As the exchange process continues, the emotional toll on the families of the victims remains immeasurable.

Continue Reading

Trending

X