Tampa Mayor warns residents: ‘You are going to die’ if you don’t evacuate before Hurricane Milton

NEW YORK POST

The mayor of Tampa, a city that’s in the crosshairs of Hurricane Milton, issued a grave warning to Florida residents who don’t heed calls to evacuate ahead of the monster storm.

“If you choose to stay … you are going to die,” Mayor Jane Castor bluntly said on CNN while talking about the dangers of Milton, a “literally catastrophic” Category 5 hurricane that’s barreling toward the Sunshine State.

The powerful storm could hit Florida as early as Wednesday and may be more destructive than deadly Hurricane Helene, which ripped through parts of the Sunshine State just last week.

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor (right) offered a blunt warning to residents that they will “die” if they choose to stay in the area as Hurricane Milton approaches Florida.CNN

Castor emphasized that attempting to ride out the storm would — not could — prove fatal. The time to flee is now, she urged residents in evacuation zones.

“I can tell you right now they might have done that in others, there’s never been one like this,” Castor said on CNN. “And Helene was a wakeup call, this is literally catastrophic.

“And I can say without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you’re gonna die.”

Castor, who has been in office since 2019, noted some of the forecasts predict a tidal surge of 10 to 12 feet. Helene’s tidal surge was 6 feet.

“And that was literally devastating to so many in our coastal area,” she said of Helene’s disastrous path.

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