Milton — an extremely dangerous Category 5 hurricane — was growing in size Tuesday while sweeping toward Florida’s west coast. The storm is predicted to make landfall Wednesday night, striking a densely populated zone that includes Tampa, Sarasota and Fort Myers.
“If Milton stays on its course, this will be the most powerful hurricane to hit Tampa Bay in over 100 years,” the National Weather Service warned.
It is forecast to generate an ocean surge that could inundate the hardest-hit areas with 10 to 15 feet of water, resulting in extensive damage and potentially costing billions of dollars. Milton has prompted what could be Florida’s largest evacuation since Hurricane Irma in 2017.
“If you’re under evacuation orders you should evacuate now, now, now,” President Joe Biden said Tuesday.
Nearly 1,300 gas stations have run out of fuel in Florida as millions of residents in the state scramble to flee from Hurricane Milton’s path.
According to data from the gas price tracking service GasBuddy, about 16 percent of Florida’s 7,912 stations were without fuel as of Tuesday afternoon.
In a press release Tuesday, The Florida Aquarium said it had moved nine African penguins from their habitat on the first floor to higher ground, as well as six snakes, three lizards, three turtles, two alligators, two toads and a hermit crab. Staff also relocated a group of jellyfish, known as a “smack,” out of harm’s way.
The aquarium has thousands of coral under its care, including endangered species that staff are transporting to safer locations including West Palm Beach’s The Reef Institute, the University of Miami and the Georgia Aquarium. In all, some 4,000 coral juveniles and 100-plus broodstock from the aquarium’s Coral Conservation and Research Center in Apollo Beach are being moved.
A combination of disease and overheating oceans, fueled by climate change, have killed many of the coral in Florida’s waters. The Florida Aquarium says it is the only facility worldwide that cares for endangered pillar coral and has the largest population of reproductive-size elkhorn coral.
“Many many of the corals out there, the majority of them, have died. So we have brought many of these corals here, into our care,” said Dr. Debi Luke, the aquarium’s senior vice president of conservation. “We are the genetic bank for these corals.”