But some in the storm’s path are determined to “hunker down” in their homes and brace for Hurricane Milton.
“If you choose to stay, find yourself a permanent marker. Write your name, your date of birth, and your next of kin on your arm, so we know who you are and who to contact”, Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell told a press conference on Tuesday.
He added: “This is no joke.”
Ashley Moody, Florida’s attorney general, also told those refusing to flee: “You probably need to write your name in permanent marker on your arm so that people know who you are when they get to you afterwards.”
Hurricane Milton became the third-fastest intensifying Atlantic storm on record as it headed towards Florida’s west coast, threatening to swamp low-lying areas with a life-threatening storm surge, according to the US National Hurricane Center.
Fifteen of Florida’s 67 counties have issued mandatory evacuation orders for at least some residents, stretching along much of the west coast from Collier County to Levy County.
That includes many of the 3.1 million people who live in the Tampa metropolitan area, a dense cluster of low-lying communities along the coast and on the shelter islands of Tampa Bay, which has not been in a hurricane’s path in more than a century.