'If you stay here, you will die:' Florida fire chief sounds alarm as Milton approaches

Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald on Oct 8, 2024

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The mayor of Tampa issued a stark, ominous warning on Monday evening: If residents in an evacuation zone don’t follow orders as Hurricane Milton barrels toward them, certain death is imminent.

“The No. 1 message, as it has been for several days now, is that you need to prepare,” Mayor Jane Castor told a shocked CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. “Do whatever you need to do, and then get out.”

Now, another official in the region has echoed Castor’s chilling advice.

Trip Barrs, Chief of the City of Treasure Island Fire Rescue, was being interviewed on the same network by Collins’ colleague Dana Bash on Tuesday afternoon.

Without mincing his words he said people needed to get out of the Pinellas County city that is situated on a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico:

“If you stay here, you will die.”

“Full stop,” Bash responded. “You are absolutely convinced of that.”

Barrs stressed that even if you’re in a condo that’s not on ground level, you’re still in great danger.

“We’ve got debris that will be flying around, two and three story piles of debris on the island,” he said. “That’s all going to be missiles.”

The veteran first responder added that local infrastructure is still unstable from Helene last month, making matters more precarious.

“This storm is different,” Barrs said. “We’re not getting a glancing blow on this one. There’s no uncertainty in the forecast. We are going to be a direct hit for a major hurricane.”

By late afternoon, many folks appeared to heeding those words of caution. Highways were clogged as the Category 4 monster continued its track to deliver what could potentially be one of the most damaging weather events in Sunshine State history.

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