Some Floridians struggle to evacuate as Milton bears down

As Hurricane Milton barrels toward Tampa Bay, some residents are saying that the resources needed to evacuate — especially gasoline — are in short supply, despite a mandate to leave the area.

Ashley Khrais, a resident of Holiday, Florida, just inland from the coast, about an hour northwest of Tampa, is among those finding themselves stuck. 

Khrais, a registered nurse, said that despite the severity of the coming storm, she’s eager to help other residents even worse off.

From what she’s seen and heard, there are likely to be many.

“It seems very, very scary, but there’s no way to leave,” Khrais said around midday Tuesday.

Faced with daunting traffic and seemingly no gas, she said she realized she was going to have to “hunker down” and try to ride out the storm with her 10-month-old son and mother. 

National Hurricane Center forecasters say that Milton “has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida.” 

Much of that area, including northwest Florida, is still recovering from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago. Debris from Helene also poses a risk as Milton approaches because the objects can turn into dangerous projectiles. FEMA is assisting in the removal of debris, according to a statement from the White House on Monday. 

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor warned that Milton would be unlike other storms. “I can say this without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die,” Castor said Monday in an interview with CNN. 

However, numerous Tampa-area residents have made posts and videos sharing how difficult evacuating can be. Locals lamented a shortage of gas, gridlocked roads, few hotels to shelter in and no flights out of the area. Some said their cars were too damaged from Helene to get them out of the affected areas. 

By Tuesday, airlines had canceled hundreds of flights, theme parks prepared to close some areas and cruise lines shifted routes as Floridians braced for Hurricane Milton’s landfall. 

The cyclone has top sustained winds near 155 miles per hour, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and is expected to strike Florida’s west coast late Wednesday. More than 50 Florida counties are under a state of emergency.

A spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management said Tuesday that more than 1 million gallons of gasoline would arrive today, “with another 6 million gallons on the way into the state in the coming days.”

It has shared a list of shelters residents could go to as well as Uber vouchers to help them get there.    

On social media, lines stretching around the block could be seen at the few gas stations in the greater Tampa Bay area that still had fuel. According to data from gas station tracking company GasBuddy, approximately 16% of fueling stations in Florida were out of gas before noon Tuesday, with about 43% out in the Tampa Bay area.

Unlike many other states in the southeast, Florida gets its gasoline supplies by boat. That has caused problems in the past: When Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades terminal flooded in the spring of 2023, drivers across Southeast Florida were stranded for days.

Gov. Ron DeSantis acknowledged delivery issues in comments Tuesday, though did not directly address whether sea-borne shipping issues were playing a role. In an appearance on “Fox and Friends,” he said “distribution problems” were hampering the delivery of fuel supplies the state had ordered.

“The stations are running through it faster than they normally do,” DeSantis said. “We have Florida Highway Patrol escorting these fuel trucks into the gas stations.”

He said that 1.2 million gallons of both diesel and gasoline were currently en route to the state, adding Florida Highway Patrol had escorted 27 fuel trucks on Monday night to replenish the supply.

Tampa resident Lindsey Carlson considers herself lucky. Thanks to a gas-tracking app, she said she and her family were able to fill up at a gas station in Plant City, about a half hour east of Tampa.

Carlson said she’s now successfully evacuated to Lakeland, in the inland part of the state, about an hour east of Tampa, while her parents made it to the Jacksonville area. Hurricane Helene had already damaged her family home and she assumes more, if not total damage, will be wrought by Milton.