Wavering Floridians Told to Get Moving as Hurricane Milton Closes In
Just go. That was the message Wednesday morning for Floridians still prepared to defy orders to evacuate ahead of the landfall of Hurricane Milton as officials warned stay-behinds they face grim survival odds.
Bumper-to-bumper traffic still chokes roads leading out of Tampa as some 17 percent of Florida's nearly 8,000 gas stations had run out of fuel, according to fuel markets tracker GasBuddy.
The gridlock is so bad from the evacuations in these areas, such as I-75, that the state is opening the shoulders for vehicles to use.
AP reports the Tampa Bay area, home to more than 3.3 million people, faced the possibility of widespread destruction after avoiding direct hits from major hurricanes for upwards of 100 years.
The National Hurricane Center predicted Milton, a monstrous Category 5 hurricane during much of its approach, would likely weaken but remain a major hurricane when it makes landfall late Wednesday.