Massive amounts of debris from Helene could pose a serious danger when Milton arrives

AccuWeather

AccuWeather correspondent Leslie Hudson reported live from Treasure Island, describing the dangerous and potentially deadly situation from two hurricanes in less than two weeks

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00:00A lot of officials here expected to call for mass evacuations along the Gulf Coast in the

00:04coming hours.

00:05Leslie?

00:06Yeah, we're actually in Treasure Island, Jeff, and you can see the huge mound behind me.

00:13The locals here have conveniently called this a debris island because there's just so much

00:18of it.

00:19The governor, I think, estimated over 5,000 metric tons just here alone in Pinellas County.

00:24And as you just mentioned to and alluded to, the governor says this is a 24-7 operation.

00:29I've been in this area off and on for about 10 days, and let me show you some video of

00:34this caravan of dump trucks that continues to ferry debris on and off this island.

00:39It is around the clock.

00:40They are trying to get this debris off, and I can tell you, my first time back over here

00:43in two days, there is a significant amount of debris they have hauled away.

00:48But there is a ton left, and so that is the big concern of this being possibly projectile.

00:54This could be life-threatening debris in a storm surge.

00:57This is heavy stuff.

00:58There's refrigerators, there's treadmills, there's ovens, entire houses that have been

01:04gutted.

01:05All of those big kitchen appliances are here.

01:08And this is just in this one area in the Treasure Island Community Center.

01:12There's still a ton of debris along the roadways, but again, since I was here last Friday evening,

01:17they have moved a lot.

01:19There's just simply not enough time to get all that debris out of here in time.

01:23And we're also hearing reports, by the way, that there has been some price gouging with

01:27some of the local parking garages here in Treasure Island.

01:31Folks that are trying to get their cars to higher ground and away from that imminent

01:35surge, we hear that they're charging twice as much to park their cars.

01:39You haven't been able to confirm that, but some of the locals have said that.

01:42There's also very high tensions, rightfully so, in the grocery stores, the gas stations.

01:47I see a lot of very weary people upset.

01:50They're trying to do their last-minute preps.

01:53Another concern last night that the governor pointed out in a press conference earlier

01:56today, folks, about 300 cars went to dump their debris in the landfill, and the gates

02:02were locked last night.

02:03So the sheriff's department busted open the gates so the folks could drop their debris.

02:08So it's a very frenetic pace around here as folks try and get ready for what Milton will

02:14likely bring here in the next 36 hours or so.

02:17Reporting live in Treasure Island, I'm Leslie Hudson.

02:19Back to you.

02:20All right, Leslie, we appreciate your reporting.

02:21As always, be safe.

02:22This is going to be a really challenging, challenging, obviously it's an understatement

02:26here, but we have a lot of these projectiles on the ground.

02:28As you mentioned, debris and damage from just less than two weeks ago.

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