As of Tuesday afternoon, Manatee County Jail is not planning on evacuating approximately 1,200 inmates, even as state and local officials stress that Florida residents should heed evacuation warnings ahead of Hurricane Milton’s arrival.
Hurricane Milton was classified as a Category 4 hurricane on Tuesday, with maximum sustained winds of 155 miles per hour, making it 2 mph shy of a Category 5 hurricane.
After hitting Category 5 status on Monday, the storm weakened slightly but appears to be intensifying again. Forecasts show Milton making landfall in Tampa on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, but the expected wind speeds and exact location of landfall are still uncertain.
On Tuesday afternoon, a Manatee County Jail deputy told Newsweek that the jail is in the Zone A evacuation zone. Manatee County has issued mandatory evacuations for all people in Zones A and B.
“We do not issue evacuation orders lightly,” Manatee County Public Safety Director Jodie Fiske said. “Milton is anticipated to cause more storm surge than Helene. So, if you stayed during Helene and got lucky, I would not press my luck with this particular system.”
However, as of Tuesday afternoon, the deputy said that officials had not planned to evacuate the jail. The jail has stocked up on supplies and sandbags, and should it flood, inmates could be moved to the top floor of the two-story building.
The deputy said the jail had not flooded to that extent in the past. Deputies will also remain at the jail during the storm.
Streets flooded in Atlanta after Hurricane Helene on September 27. A jail in Manatee County, Florida, has not evacuated inmates as Hurricane Milton approaches.
Megan Varner/Getty
Potential storm surge inundation occurs in Manatee County Zone A when storm surge hits 11 feet, according to the Manatee County website. The National Hurricane Center forecasts anticipate Milton’s storm surge reaching 15 feet for Manatee County.
“A large area of destructive storm surge, with highest inundations of 10 ft or greater, is expected along a portion of the west-central coast of the Florida Peninsula,” the NHC warned. “If you are in the Storm Surge Warning Area, this is an extremely life-threatening situation, and you should evacuate today if ordered by local officials. There will likely not be enough time to wait to leave on Wednesday.”
Officials across Florida have been pleading with residents to heed any evacuation orders related to Hurricane Milton.
“There’s never been one like this,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said. “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 gonna die.”
The storm is expected to weaken slightly before landfall, although experts believe it will nearly double in size before it hits the coast. This means the storm’s impacts will become even more widespread, including damaging winds, life-threatening storm surges and heavy rain.
“Please. Please. Please take this storm seriously,” Manatee County Emergency Management Chief Matt Myers said in a press release about evacuations. “Now is the time to prepare.”
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