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Biden begs Florida residents to flee as Milton returns to Category 5
Biden begs Florida residents to flee as Milton returns to Category 5
By Gerard Martinez and Gianrigo Marletta
Tampa, United States (AFP) Oct 9, 2024

US President Joe Biden has begged Florida residents to flee Hurricane Milton, warning that the Category 5 storm could turn into the worst natural disaster to hit the state in a century.

As the second huge hurricane in as many weeks rumbled toward Florida's west coast, people raced to board up homes and flee.

"It's a matter of life and death, and that's not hyperbole," Biden said from the White House on Tuesday, urging those under orders to leave to "evacuate now, now, now."

As of Tuesday, Milton returned to the maximum Category 5 designation, generating maximum sustained winds of 165 mph (270 kph), the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

"Fluctuations in intensity are likely while Milton moves across the eastern Gulf of Mexico, but Milton is expected to be a dangerous major hurricane when it reaches the west-central coast of Florida Wednesday night," the NHC said.

Governor Ron DeSantis, at a news conference, ticked off town after town in danger.

"Basically the entire peninsula portion of Florida is under some type of either a watch or a warning," he said.

Airlines put on extra flights out of Tampa, Orlando, Fort Myers and Sarasota, as highways clogged up with escaping traffic and gas stations sold out of fuel.

- Walls of water -

Hurricane expert Michael Lowry warned that in the Tampa area, home to about three million people, Milton's storm surge "could double the storm surge levels observed two weeks ago during Helene," which brought massive flooding.

Biden postponed a major trip to Germany and Angola to oversee the federal response, as storm relief efforts have emerged as a political battleground ahead of the presidential election on November 5.

Donald Trump has tapped into frustration about the emergency response after Hurricane Helene and fueled it with disinformation, falsely claiming that disaster money had been spent instead on migrants.

Biden on Tuesday slammed Trump's comments as "un-American," while Vice President Kamala Harris warned about the danger that misinformation posed to the federal response.

"It's crude. Have you no empathy, man, for the suffering of other people? Have you no sense of purpose if you purport to be a leader?" she said, challenging Trump directly, during an interview with late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert.

In a scene of frantic preparation repeated all over Florida, dozens of cars lined up at a sports facility in Tampa to pick up sandbags to protect their homes from flooding.

John Gomez, 75, ignored official advice and traveled all the way from Chicago to try to save a second house he has in Florida.

"I think it's better to be here in case something happens," Gomez said as he waited in line.

But Katie, in her 30s, heeded the call to evacuate and arrived in Orlando with her five-year-old son and dog from St. Petersburg, a coastal city where Hurricane Helene had brought three feet of floodwater into her bayside home two weeks ago.

Normally she would ride out the storm at a friend's elevated apartment, she told AFP, "but I'm not taking any chances this time around."

- Global warming factor -

Scientists say global warming has a role in intense storms as warmer ocean surfaces release more water vapor, providing additional energy for storms, which exacerbates their winds.

A report by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group published Wednesday said Hurricane Helene's torrential rain and powerful winds were made about 10 percent more intense due to climate change.

Storms of Helene's magnitude were formerly anticipated once every 130 years, but now the probability is closer to once every 53 years, on average.

On the ground, communities hit by deadly Hurricane Helene, which slammed Florida late last month, have rushed to remove debris that could become dangerous projectiles as Milton approaches.

In Mexico's Yucatan, strong winds toppled trees and pylons, and heavy rain caused flooding, but the peninsula avoided major damage or casualties as the storm barreled offshore.

Across the southeastern United States, emergency workers are still struggling to provide relief after Helene, which killed at least 230 people across several states.

It hit the Florida coastline on September 26 as a major Category 4 hurricane, causing massive flooding in remote inland towns in states farther north, including North Carolina and Tennessee.

Helene was the deadliest natural disaster to hit the US mainland since 2005's Hurricane Katrina, with the death toll still rising.

Tampa zoo rushes Chompers the porcupine and others to safety as Milton nears
Tampa, United States (AFP) Oct 8, 2024 - With carrots and strawberries, zookeepers lure Chompers the porcupine into an animal carrier, hoping to keep the creature -- and all the rest of the inhabitants of Zoo Tampa -- safe from the fury of Hurricane Milton.

Orangutans watch the flurry of activity before allowing their keepers to move them to safety, while African elephants are herded gently to the protected areas.

Tiffany Burns, director of animal programs at the zoo, says it has a few hurricane-proof buildings where they will move all the animals -- very carefully.

"We hope that the animals have very minimal stress, that's always our goal," the 41-year-old says.

Florida's west coast is still digging out from the devastation of Hurricane Helene, which roared onshore as a Category 4 storm on September 26, causing widespread devastation.

Now, with the debris from Helene still strewn about, the battered region is bracing for Milton -- a potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm taking aim at Tampa.

Residents are bracing for the worst storm the city has faced in years -- perhaps a century.

The city of roughly 400,000 people, separated from the Gulf of Mexico by Tampa Bay, faces the worst impact from storm surges and flooding.

Burns explained that staff have tried to maintain a positive attitude as they prepare the zoo, but fear the impact of Milton on their own homes.

"It's really hard to see such a big storm coming back toward us so soon," she says.

They are not alone.

- 'Too much' -

Ernst Bontemps boarded up the windows of his medical clinic in the nearby city of St. Petersburg for the second time in two weeks.

"This is too much," sighed the 61-year-old gastroenterologist.

"It's painful because last time we had complete devastation everywhere in St. Petersburg. And here we go again."

The entire Tampa Bay metropolitan area -- which includes the eponymous city, St. Petersburg and Clearwater -- still bears the scars of Helene, which left more than 230 people dead across the southeastern United States.

On Treasure Island, located in the Gulf of Mexico and accessible via a bridge from St. Petersburg, the streets remain littered with debris.

Helene caused flooding in most of the homes and businesses on the island, leading inhabitants to pile up everything damaged by the water in front of their residences, including mattresses, refrigerators, televisions and more.

David Levitsky looked at the pile in front of his own home on the island.

"All this stuff is just wind fodder that's going to just be blowing down the street and hitting who knows what," the 69-year-old retiree said.

Like other Treasure Island residents, Levitsky is trying to protect what little survived Helene before he evacuates.

"Being on the water is a joy, but obviously, with the joy comes a lot of possibilities on the other side of that spectrum," he said.

In St. Petersburg, meanwhile, Bontemps fears that repeat hurricanes are the new normal for this part of Florida.

"I've been here for 22 years and we've never been hit by hurricanes twice in one year," he said.

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