Canadians head for higher ground as threat of Hurricane Milton nears Florida’s Gulf Coast

The contents of entire homes have been kicked to the curb in one south Tampa neighbourhood. Piles of garbage bags, broken trees and waterlogged furniture serve as reminders of how unforgiving nature can be.

“It’s crazy, and it’s about to get worse,” said Canadian Mark Taylor while walking through the area damaged by September’s Hurricane Helene.

Hurricane Milton is the second major storm to threaten Florida in just as many weeks. The storm intensified to a category five on Monday and is expected to hit the Gulf Coast on Wednesday.

Taylor’s neighbourhood is once again under a mandatory evacuation order. Just like they did two weeks ago for Helene, he and his family are packing their bags to leave for higher ground.

“Tomorrow we’re going to make the drive to Orlando,” he said.

After Helene, the Taylors were lucky enough to return to a dry, undamaged home, unlike most of their neighbours. This time, they placed more sandbags around the steps and sealed off their doors, but the family doesn’t feel as confident leaving.

“There’s more of a panic in the neighbourhood,” said Taylor, who has experienced three major hurricanes since moving down south.

“A lot of locals are leaving, and I haven’t seen that.”

Florida officials are preparing for the largest evacuation the state has seen since Hurricane Irma in 2017.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis urged residents to clean up the debris around their homes before Milton hits.

“We had a lot of debris left from Hurricane Helene on Florida’s Gulf Coast. That creates a huge hazard if you have a major hurricane hit in that area,” DeSantis said during a press conference on Monday.

South of Tampa, near Sarasota, Canadians Cyndi Edwards and her husband Colin Trethewey are trying to clean up the damage at one of their rental units before they evacuate. It’s a fight they know they aren’t going to win.

“It’s kind of like getting punched in the face twice,” Edwards said.

The condo was completely destroyed by four feet of water pushed in from Hurricane Helene’s surge. They had to remove all the furniture and appliances.

“We’ve exhausted ourselves the last three days cleaning everything up. But we’re about to get far worse is what we’re hearing, and we believe it,” Trethewey said.

Forecasters are warning of a potentially record-breaking storm surge that could be as high as three and a half metres, higher than what happened during Hurricane Helene.

At this point, Trethewey said it is more important to save lives than it is to save property.

“There’s not much point sandbagging our properties on the Barrier Islands, because that’s not going to be able to stop the storm surge at all,” he said.

“The only thing you can do is protect life and protect yourself and your friends and family and get out of the way.”