As Hurricane Milton, a Category 5 storm, approaches the Sunshine State, the mayor of Tampa is delivering a chilling warning to residents. During an appearance on CNN, Mayor Jane Castor stated bluntly, “If you choose to stay … you are going to die.”
On air, Castor emphasized that this hurricane is not one to ride out casually. “I can tell you right now they might have done that in others, there’s never been one like this,” she remarked. “And Helene was a wakeup 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.”
Reflecting on the recent hurricane Helene, which brought a tidal surge of 6 feet, Castor, who has been in office since 2019, noted that forecasts predict a tidal surge of 10 to 12 feet with Milton. “This is something that I’ve never seen in my life and I can tell you anyone born and raised in the Tampa Bay area has never seen anything like this before,” she added. “People need to get out. If we have this predicted storm surge, this is not survivable,” she reiterated.