More than 5.5 million people are being evacuated in the United States due to the powerful Hurricane Milton. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has called on residents to evacuate immediately due to Hurricane Milton approaching the coast. The New York Times reports, citing the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
«This hurricane is a disaster. I can say without any dramatization whatsoever, if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you’re going to die,» Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said.
Milton is the largest hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico since 2005. On October 7, wind speeds in the areas of Milton’s passage reached 290 kilometers per hour. On the morning of October 8, it dropped to 250 kilometers per hour, but meteorologists do not rule out further strengthening by the time it comes ashore and hits Florida.
On October 8, Milton received a category 5 severity on the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) scale. However, scientists assume that it can strengthen to a category 6, which does not yet officially exist.
Warnings about Milton were issued two weeks after 277 people died in six states as a result of Hurricane Helene. Helene became the deadliest hurricane on the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which took the lives of more than 1,800 people.
