Ahead of Hurricane Milton's landfall in or near the vulnerable Tampa Bay area, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that the beastly storm has likely prompted the largest National Guard mobilization in Florida history.
At an Ocala press conference less than two days before Milton—which on Monday became the most intense system in the Atlantic since 2007—Gov. DeSantis said that 5,000 National Guard are currently on duty, but he expects that to expand to 8,000 "very soon" before the storm's landfall.
"This is probably the largest National Guard mobilization in advance of a storm in Florida history," DeSantis said Tuesday, before pointing out that Tampa Bay is one of the "worst places" to take a major hurricane because it is low-lying, on a peninsula, and still struggling after Hurricane Helene two weeks earlier.
Oscillating between a Category 4 and Category 5 storm, Milton is set to barrel into the Sarasota to St. Pete area sometime between late Wednesday and early Thursday as a Cat 3, almost two weeks exactly after Hurricane Helene damaged homes, flooded neighborhoods, and killed over a dozen Floridians in the area.
In preparation for Milton, and in addition to the National Guard, Florida will also have 34 search and rescue aircraft, 450 tactical vehicles, 200 soldiers from the Florida State Guard, and 43,000 linemen. States as far as California and Minnesota have pledged to help Florida, as the Sunshine State did for North Carolina in the Helene aftermath.
27 of the 51 counties under a declared state of emergency have some sort of evacuation order in place, causing parts of popular highways like I-4 and I-75 to—as of this morning—be 150% busier than usual with an average speed of 20 mph. This has also caused a run on fuel, with some lines for gas stations extending over a half mile from the pump.
DeSantis assured Floridians that while 17% of gas stations have run out of fuel, the state still has 268,000 gallons of diesel and 110,000 gallons of gas on standby—not counting the fuel coming in from various seaports (which were only just reopened last week after a massive dockworkers' strike shut them down). 1.2 million more gallons of fuel are currently en route from other states, the Governor said, and he has authorized Florida Highway Patrol to use sirens to escort fuel trucks to depleted gas stations.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 43 fuel trucks replenished the stations' fuel.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management, meanwhile, is completing 1200 missions to shore up vulnerable areas, partially by deploying hundreds of thousands of water bottles, sandbags, and shelf-stable meals.
Furthermore, the state has deployed 11,000 feet of Tiger Dams—an innovative flood protection system that helped save certain areas of Manatee and Hillsborough Counties from the life-threatening storm surge ushered in by Helene.
"[Tiger Dams are] really important to protect hospitals, wastewater facilities, and electrical infrastructure [from flooding]," DeSantis said, revealing that the state has helped evacuate 300 healthcare facilities ahead of the storm.
Milton is currently a Category 5 storm. Last night, its maximum sustained winds peaked at a near-record 185 mph before weakening to 140 mph Tuesday morning. As of 5 p.m., they swelled up to 165 mph. Though it's expected to wane to a Category 3 before striking the Gulf Coast, it is forecast to double in size.
If it hits Tampa as predicted, it could become the worst storm to hit the city in over 100 years.
