Florida bracing for major impacts from Hurricane Milton

AccuWeather

Floridians have been preparing before dawn on Oct. 8 to stock up on sandbags and other supplies in preparation for Hurricane Milton. The storm is expected to bring life-threatening conditions.

Transcript

00:00People desperate to get sandbags in Sarasota got in line before dawn this morning.

00:06Those sandbags may be no match for the storm surge and flooding threat in Sarasota.

00:12AccuWeather's Bill Waddell is live there this morning.

00:14Bill, you're at one of the sites where debris from Hurricane Helene is piling up.

00:20And I think a lot of viewers are unaware just how powerful that storm surge was with Helene,

00:28even though Helene was about 200 miles to the west of the west coast of Florida.

00:35Yeah, that's right, Bernie.

00:36I'll be honest, we were surprised when we pulled into this area.

00:39We're on the south side of Sarasota near one of the bridges to Siesta Key.

00:43This is where a lot of that debris has come from.

00:45Just a few piles here.

00:46We know there are sites with a lot more piles.

00:49I haven't seen any trucks running since we got here about 20 minutes ago.

00:52So the big question, we know that this is one of the drop-off sites for all of the flood damage

00:56and debris from Helene.

00:58We don't know, are they going to continue bringing more debris here,

01:01or are they going to haul it out of this spot?

01:03There's a lot of safety concerns with this storm that we typically don't see with hurricanes

01:07because we have these piles of debris all over the place.

01:10You can see this is a big open field.

01:13The AccuWeather meteorologists who are powering the hurricane tracker on the AccuWeather app

01:17are warning us of 120-mile-an-hour wind gusts possible here in Sarasota.

01:22So all of that debris is going to go flying, potentially landing on the roads,

01:26potentially hitting homes and nearby businesses.

01:28That's the big concern.

01:29We want to show you some of the video that we have been seeing,

01:31not just the piles of debris across this area, but also the sandbagging efforts.

01:36I can tell you a good sign this morning, Bernie.

01:40There's not all that much traffic here in Sarasota.

01:42I'm not seeing all that many people.

01:43There's definitely folks on the road during last-minute preparations,

01:46but this is not your average morning commute hour.

01:49People are heeding the evacuation warnings,

01:51especially folks who just went through Hurricane Helene two weeks ago.

01:54A lot of people are getting out of town.

01:56Some people still trying to make that decision this morning if they're going to leave.

02:00And if they do, which direction will they go?

02:04We're undecided.

02:05I'm going to be talking with my wife this evening whether we go south.

02:08It seems like the Miami West Palm Beach area seems to be the place to go.

02:13I certainly wouldn't want to travel north because I really don't know how easy it would be to get back.

02:18And then gas is a situation there.

02:20We are relatively new set Floridians.

02:23We've been here since 21, but we live through Ian.

02:28This is different.

02:32Yeah, this is different.

02:33This is an entirely different storm system.

02:35This is an entirely different setup and track that this storm is taking in.

02:38Again, people waited hours in line for sandbags.

02:41Yesterday, we just left a distribution site where people were up before dawn,

02:45waiting at least an hour in line before the gates even opened.

02:48And Bernie, what sticks out to me,

02:50obviously, we've covered a lot of hurricanes and storms over the years.

02:54This situation is starting to bring me back to the 2020 hurricane season.

02:57You remember Hurricane Laura in the Lake Charles area?

03:00Yes.

03:01And then we returned to Lake Charles about six weeks later for Hurricane Delta.

03:05That's a completely different experience, not just for us, but for the local family members,

03:10for folks who choose to stay behind and not evacuate.

03:12You're going to have a lot more debris.

03:14I remember during Hurricane Delta, all of the debris from the previous hurricane,

03:18there was sheet metal flying everywhere, boards with nails, a lot more debris on the road.

03:23Again, you have the compounding damage from what Hurricane Milton is going to do,

03:28plus all of the debris and damage and furniture left over from Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago.

03:34That's why officials are urging people to evacuate, to take this storm seriously.

03:38That's why AccuWeather expert meteorologists are warning people,

03:41this is a life-threatening situation here in the Tampa Bay area, in the Sarasota area.

03:46Big concerns with the storm surge.

03:47But again, this is going to be a complicated response.

03:50People who choose not to evacuate and stay behind right after the storm,

03:54they're likely going to be dealing with a lot more debris on the roads, a lot more hazards, a lot more flat tires.

03:59It's just going to make things a lot more difficult.

04:01Stay with me on this a second, Bill.

04:03We had a one-two punch in the North Carolina mountains,

04:07where we had the rain preceding Helene and then the damage.

04:11This is somewhat similar, although totally different in its scope.

04:14A one-two damage, Helene, leftover debris, and then you bring in Milton.

04:19Just a scary setup, unfortunately.

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