Tampa mayor: If you stay in evacuation area, ‘you are going to die’

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor is warning residents ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall that if they stay in the evacuation area, they will die.

“The No. 1 message, as it has been for several days now, is that you need to prepare, do whatever you need to do and then get out of the evacuation zones,” Castor told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Monday evening.

Floridians are bracing for a direct hit from Milton, slated to be the first major hurricane to directly hit the Tampa area in more than a century.

Much of Florida’s west coast is under a mandatory evacuation order ahead of landfall Wednesday evening. Castor noted that many Floridians are already leaving the area. For those trying to stay home, she urged them to reconsider.

“They may have done that in others,” Castor said, referring to Floridians riding out previous storms. “There’s never been one like this.”

“Helene was a wake-up call. This is literally catastrophic, and I can say without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you’re going to die,” she continued.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Milton is expected to make landfall on the west coast of Florida late Wednesday evening. It’s predicted to be a Category 3 hurricane by the time it reaches land, with winds up to 129 mph.

The Tampa and Sarasota areas of Florida are expected to see storm surges of 10-15 feet.

The storm intensified quickly over the Gulf of Mexico earlier this week, becoming a Category 5 storm as it headed toward Florida. As of early Tuesday, it was downgraded to a Category 4.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday that the state suspended tolls to facilitate easier evacuations, though Castor referenced backed-up highways as people leave town.

Florida and other Southeastern states are still recovering from Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in the Sunshine State as a Category 4 storm.