Hurricane Milton: Canadians urged to ‘avoid non-essential travel’ to Florida Peninsula, as Tampa Bay mayor warns of fatal consequences

As the Florida Peninsula braces for yet another apocalyptic storm heading its way, those north of the border are being urged to stay away as Hurricane Milton nears landfall.

The Canadian government has issued a travel advisory for the entire peninsula posing a risk — including Tampa Bay, which is staring down its first direct hurricane hit in 103 years. Canadians should “avoid non-essential travel” to the region as the Category 4 storm promises to wreak havoc on the lives of many over the coming days.

“The storm is likely to bring excessive rainfall and violent winds. It may cause flash flooding and landslides,” the Canadian government’s advisory reads.

Milton’s centre is expected to make landfall Wednesday evening in the Tampa Bay area — which is still recovering from the damage caused by Hurricane Helene late last month.

For the west coast of Florida, a popular snowbird destination, Canadians are being advised to avoid travelling “from Chokoloskee to the mouth of the Suwanee River, including Tampa Bay,” along with Lake Okeechobee and the Dry Tortugas. An advisory has also been issued for the east coast of Florida, from the St. Lucie/Indian River County Line northward to the mouth of the St. Marys River. The inland area between the affected coastlines should also be avoided for non-essential travel reasons.

Hurricane Milton, according the the Canadian travel advisory, is likely to disrupt or halt essential services like electricity and power, transportation, water and food supply, communications, police, fire and emergency services and medical care.

Canadians already in the affected areas were asked to monitor local news and weather reports, listen to local authorities and evacuate the peninsula if necessary.

Before the Canadian government’s stern warning, Tampa Bay mayor Jane Castor spoke to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Monday, and her plea to those citizen residing in set-to-be-affected areas was about as blunt and terrifying as one could possible imagine.

“The number one message as it has been for several days now is that you need to prepare, do whatever you need to do and then get out of the evacuation zones,” the mayor said, before emphasizing that the potential 10-15 foot tidal surges which could ravage the west coast of Florida have the potential to be twice as large as those which Hurricane Helene brought just two weeks ago.

“If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you’re going to die,” Castor added.

Though the National Hurricane Center downgraded it to a Category 4 storm on Tuesday, forecasters said it Milton still poses “an extremely serious threat to Florida,” per the Associated Press. Milton gained some serious steam on Monday, evolving into a Category 5 hurricane at midday with maximum sustained winds 285 km/h before being downgraded on Tuesday.

The fear still remains that Milton could be upgraded once again to Category 5 — which is the highest intensity rating a hurricane can be given — before it reaches land on the west coast of Florida on Wednesday.

Videos from the ground are starting to trickle in and promise to continue while the storm ravages parts of the Florida Peninsula as the week goes on, but footage from space which has surfaced in the hours leading up to Milton’s landfall are already causing a stir.

On Tuesday, NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick posted footage of the looming storm from the window of the Dragon Endeavour space shuttle, which provided an ominous look at the clouds brewing just above earth.

Absolutely terrifying stuff.

The storm is trending so horribly that even some meteorologists — who analyze and talk about extreme weather events basically everyday — are freaking out over the storm’s potential to wreak havoc. On Monday, a video went viral of Florida meteorologist John Morales getting teared up and emotional as he provided an update on Hurricane Milton’s extreme intensification in the Gulf of Mexico.

As mayor Castor put it so elegantly at a news conference on Monday: “This is the real deal here with Milton. … If you want to take on Mother Nature, she wins 100 per cent of the time.”

Canadians can stay up to date with the latest weather and travel advisories HERE.