Airports are shutting down, cruise lines are repositioning ships and cars filled with evacuees are fleeing the state as Hurricane Milton bores down on Florida.
With some city streets still lined with debris from Hurricane Helene, Milton is expected to slam into the Tampa Bay Area as a highly dangerous Category 3 storm on the night of 09OCT. Authorities were warning of a “killer” hurricane and of storm surges between 11 and 15 feet in Tampa and Sarasota. Fort Myers, some 160 km’s south of Tampa, could see surges from seven to ten feet, the National Hurricane Center warns.
According to CNN, Milton, which reached wind speeds of 180 mph, is the strongest storm to strike anywhere on the planet this year and has also become one of the 10-strongest hurricanes on record for the Atlantic.
“This is an extremely life-threatening situation,” the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory issued on the morning of 08OCT. “Devastating, hurricane-force winds are expected along the west coast of Florida.”
“If you choose to stay … you are going to die,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor warned on CNN.
CLOSURES, ADVISORIES
Major airports are closing in advance of the storm. TPA closed to commercial traffic at 9 a.m. on 08OCT, while Sarasota SRQ was slated to do the same at 4 p.m. Orlando airport officials said MCO will cease commercial operations on 09OCT at 8 a.m.
RSW, which serves southwest Florida, is open on 08OCT but will be shuttered on 09OCT and 10OCT. St. Pete-Clearwater Airport’s website states that all flights in and out of PIE are cancelled for 08OCT and 09OCT.
No dates have been set for the airports to re-open.
Air Canada has posted travel advisories for CUN, MIA, TPA, FLL, RSW and MCO for O8OCT. The CUN advisory is just for one day, but the Florida airport advisories are in place for 09OCT and 10OCT.
WestJet has advisories out for 09OCT and 10OCT for MCO, FLL and RSW, while Porter Airlines has advisories posted for FLL and MCO on 08OCT, 09OCT and 10OCT.
FlightAware reports that nearly 1,000 U.S. flights for 08OCT had been cancelled as of 8:30 am. ET, while more than 1,600 had been called off for 09OCT. The 09OCT cancellations included nearly 800 at MCO and more than 350 at TPA.
USA Today said American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines have issued waivers that allow travellers going to or from some Florida airports to change their tickets for no extra charge. It also noted that Busch Gardens in Tampa is closed on 08OCT, 09OCT and 10OCT.
There also were reports of resorts closing along the coast.
The north side of the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico was lashed by strong winds and heavy rain the morning of 08OCT as Milton passed by. The National Hurricane Center was warning of strong winds and “life-threatening storm surge with destructive waves” in the region, but Flight Aware was not showing an unusual number of cancellations in and out of CUN.
CRUISES
With Hurricane Milton moving across the Gulf of Mexico, cruise lines also are scrambling to make changes to avoid the storm.
Cruise Industry News said Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas was forced to skip visits to Roatan, Honduras and Costa Maya, Mexico and instead visited Falmouth, Jamaica. Changes also were made to itineraries for Utopia of the Seas, Symphony of the Seas and Harmony of the Seas.
Carnival said it has made minor changes to some of its ship itineraries, including Carnival Dream and Carnival Pride. The company website notes that Carnival Paradise is scheduled to depart on a cruise from Tampa on 10OCT, while Carnival Sunrise is slated to sail from Miami that day and Carnival Elation out of Jacksonville.
“Please do not proceed to the cruise terminal until you have received confirmation from us on operational plans for your cruise,” Carnival advises. “To stay up to date, please sign up for text alerts by texting CCL1 to CRUISE (278473).”
Disney Cruise Line posted an advisory on its website the afternoon of 07OCT saying that it’s monitoring the situation and will issues updates if needed.
