Southwest Florida Prepares For A Massive Hurricane Milton
On a rainy October afternoon normally reserved for watching football or a movie, the Gulf of Mexico had other plans. And now Southwest Florida prepares for yet another hurricane passing nearby. But this one feels different than Debby and Helene. Although the storm is projected to strike Tampa, there’s other forces at play that have Southwest Florida residents on edge.
“We’ve heard that before.” It’s a very common phrase on social media. Hurricane Ian, which leveled Fort Myers Beach and several Southwest Florida neighborhoods 2 years ago was also heading towards Tampa. At one point during the forecast, Fort Myers wasn’t even in Ian’s cone. But that changed. And a lot of people aren’t taking the chance that it won’t happen again.
Southwest Florida Prepares
It wasn’t just hurricane shutters going up that kept us busy on Sunday, it was attempting to gather essentials. Social media was buzzing with topics like “Where can I get propane?”, to “Is there anywhere selling gas tanks?” And even if you had them, there were long lines at gas stations, with some stations running out of gasoline. Costco and Publix were packed, with people loading up on water and other necessities. Can’t forget a trip to the liquor store.
Charlotte, Lee, and Collier County Schools are all closed through Thursday. The districts are not taking any chances with this storm, plus, some of the schools will need to prepare to be used as a shelter.
Evacuations Are Coming
As much of Southwest Florida prepares to ‘hunker down’ for the storm, others in low lying areas need to evacuate. From a release: “The Town of Fort Myers Beach has issued a Mandatory Evacuation for the entire Island. “We encourage residents and business owners to make a plan and be evacuated by 3:00pm, on Monday, October 7, 2024.”
Although the exact location is still unknown, Hurricane Milton is almost certain to hit north of Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Port Charlotte. Which is bad. We’ve learned all too well that storms that pass just to our north bring a lot of surge and rain to the area. Look at what happened to Tampa in Helene just over a week ago. Entire neighborhoods were completely flooded. To make matters worse, it’s been raining all day here, the grounds are completely saturated and there’s a lot of standing water already. we’re already flooded. And there’s a hurricane coming.
Nothing has really changed in the latest track, still a major hurricane hitting just south of the Tampa Bay. Sarasota and Bradenton residents have likely never seen anything like this. As Southwest Florida prepares for Milton, here’s some things that concern me.
There’s debris everywhere from Helene. I saw some pictures from the Tampa area where people have stacked their flood ruined belongings on the curb for trash pickup. There’s a lot of this in Charlotte County as well. When Milton strikes with winds projected over 110 mph that debris is going to be picked up and flung, causing even more damage to the area. If you’re in an area where this sounds familiar, it’s not a question – you 100% need to put your hurricane shutters up. Or board up the windows. Or whatever it takes to safeguard your home. This could get very ugly.
Restoration workers are already busy. I brought this up in a previous article. The people that come to restore your power after a storm? They’re already north of us fixing the damage from Helene. What will their response time be for us if needed? I honestly don’t know. We’re not just prepping for a hurricane, Southwest Florida prepares for an uncertainty that we don’t know what’s coming. If the power goes out, how long will it be?
Southwest Florida Prepares For “The Unknown”
And that’s why it’s “different” this time. No one in my neighborhood put up shutters for Helene, but today, many are not taking chances. I also heard a couple of test starts on some generators, and another neighbor had her tank topped off for her Generac whole home generator. Everyone is getting ready for a storm that’s projected to hit Tampa. But remember, “we’ve heard that before”.
