Evacuations urged in Tampa Bay ahead of Hurricane Milton

“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.

Steve Wilson

Regional Editor

Related Topics:#TheCenterSquare Category5Storm GulfOfMexico HurricaneMilton SteveWilson TampaBayEvacuationUrged

Up Next

Middle East War Shows No Signs Of Stopping One Year After Oct. 7 — And No Clear Path To Exit

Don't Miss

Elon Musk at Trump rally: ‘This is the most important election of our lifetime’

Todayville

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

RFK Jr’s argument for studying efficacy of various vaccines

Censorship Industrial Complex / 3 hours ago

Pro-freedom group warns Liberal bill could secretly cut off Canadians’ internet access

Addictions / 3 hours ago

The War on Commonsense Nicotine Regulation

Health

RFK Jr’s argument for studying efficacy of various vaccines

Published on November 3, 2025

Todayville

From HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy’s Facebook Page

To elevate America’s health, restore public trust, and reclaim our reputation for integrity and gold-standard science, President Donald J. Trump’s HHS will challenge even the most sacred public health dogmas through open debate and disciplined scientific scrutiny.

Censorship Industrial Complex

Pro-freedom group warns Liberal bill could secretly cut off Canadians’ internet access

Published on November 3, 2025

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

“The minister could order this dissident’s internet and phone services be cut off and require that decision remain secret”

Free speech advocates have warned that the Liberals’ cybersecurity bill would allow them to block any individual’s internet access by secret order.

During an October 30 Public Safety committee meeting in the House of Commons, Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) counsel Josh Dehaas called for Liberals to rewrite Bill C-8, which would allow the government to secretly cut off Canadians access to the internet to mediate “any threat” to the telecommunications system.

“It is dangerous to civil liberties to allow the minister the power to cut off individual Canadians without proper due process and keep that secret,” Dehaas testified.

“Consider for example a protestor who the minister believes ‘may’ engage in a distributed denial of service attack, which is a common form of civil disobedience employed by political activists,” he warned.

“The minister could order this dissident’s internet and phone services be cut off and require that decision remain secret,” Dehaas continued, adding that the legislation does not require the government to obtain a warrant.

In response, Liberal MP Marianne Dandurand claimed that the legislation is aimed to protect the government form cyberattacks, not to limit freedom of speech. However, Dehaas pointed out that the vague phrasing of the legislation allows Liberals to censor Canadians to counter “any threat” to the telecommunications system.

Bill C-8, which is now in its second reading in the House of Commons, was introduced in June by Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree and contains a provision in which the federal government could stop “any specified person” from accessing the internet.

The federal government under Prime Minister Mark Carney claims that the bill is a way to stop “unprecedented cyber-threats.”

The bill, as written, claims that the government would need the power to cut someone off from the internet, as it could be “necessary to do so to secure the Canadian telecommunications system against any threat, including that of interference, manipulation, disruption, or degradation.”

“Experts and civil society have warned that the legislation would confer ministerial powers that could be used to deliberately or inadvertently compromise the security of encryption standards within telecommunications networks that people, governments, and businesses across Canada rely upon, every day,” the Canadian Civil Liberties Association wrote in a recent press release.

Similarly, Canada’s own intelligence commissioner has warned that the bill, if passed as is, could potentially be unconstitutional, as it would allow for warrantless seizure of a person’s sensitive information.