TAMPA, Fla. – With Hurricane Milton under 24 hours away from impacting the west coast of Florida, rain bands were already showering the area Wednesday morning.
Residents in a mobile home park in Tampa were preparing to get out before daybreak.
“We’ve been here since 2007. We’ve been through a hurricane and this is the first time that we’re evacuating,” Jose Lopez told Local 10 News.
“They notified us to leave,” another resident said.
The Three Lakes mobile home community is under a mandatory evacuation order.
The mobile homes are already boarded up and residents were making last minute runs Wednesday morning to drop off items in their cars.
“There no riding this out. There is no waiting to see,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said.
Tampa’s mayor told Local 10 the time for preparations is now over and the storm surge is no joke. If something happens, you’re on your own.
“Our first responders cannot go out in hurricane force winds,” Castor said. “They pushed the envelope last time. We’re looking at the possibility of twice that amount of storm surge.”
Robert Murray, one of the residents evacuating Three Lakes said if it wasn’t for his wife and sister, he’d stay.
“Forty-five-year-old trailer. It’s too much wind. Rain we can handle,” he said. “I’m not sure that the trailer will stand up to the wind and while I’d like to die in bed, I don’t want it to be tomorrow.”
Click here to read this article in Spanish.
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