Hurricane Milton latest: Tampa’s beaches and downtown lie eerily deserted as ‘apocalyptic’ super storm approaches city

A sign in New Port Richey, just north of Tampa on Florida’s Gulf Coast, warns potential thieves not to try their luck on their partially-abandoned business premises.

Waffle House is closing restaurants across Charlotte County, Hillsborough County, Lee County, Manatee County, Pasco County, Pinellas County and Volusia County, a spokesperson revealed to DailyMail.com.

The southern US restaurant chain is a bellwether for the severity of storms, since it has a reputation for staying open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during extreme weather events.

‘Our mission remains to keep our Associates out of harm’s way,’ Waffle House added in a statement.

‘Accordingly, in areas predicted to be hardest hit, we will preemptively close restaurants with a goal of reopening them as soon as it is safe to do so to serve the communities that have there for us over the years.

‘Locations in areas predicted to be in the path of Hurricane Milton and likely to suffer significant damage, or where mandatory evacuations have been ordered are places where preemptive closures will take place as a safety precaution. 

‘We will follow local evacuation orders.’

Photographs show Waffle House closure signs in Milton and Port Richey.

‘I cannot stress enough to all the folks in the Tampa area, please listen to evacuation orders, please listen to your officials.

‘I know a lot of folks out there have survived these hurricanes before. This one is going to be very very serious.

‘I urge you to please just grab whatever you need, listen to the orders you’re getting from your local officials – they know what Milton is about to be.’

The City of St Augustine on the northeast coast of Florida has been placed under a mandatory evacuation order.

St Johns County, which encompasses the city, issued the warning to all 15,000 residents in the city, along with those in waterfront properties and flood-prone areas nearby.

Residents have been told to leave by 8am Wednesday ‘due to the imminent threat posed by Hurricane Milton,’ the county said in the evacuation directive.

Founded in 1565, St Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European and African-American origin in the United States.

The below photographs show St Augustine shortly after Hurricane Helene barreled over Florida.

An astronaut has shared footage of the hurricane from space as it hurtled over the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday morning.

Shoppers have descended on supermarkets in Orlando, which is due to be heavily impacted by Hurricane Milton in the coming days.

Floridians have rushed to stockpile supplies as they prepare to bunker down and weather the storm, or evacuate.

NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick shared a stunning image of Hurricane Milton from the window of his rocket on Tuesday morning.

‘It could be one of the worst storms in 100 years… If you’re under evacuation orders, you should evacuate now,’ Biden warned residents in an announcement from the White House.

The below footage shows Clearwater Pier Beach in Tampa, which is set to be struck by Milton as it makes landfall on Wednesday night.

Police in Treasure Island, which is in the middle of the danger zone for Hurricane Milton’s path of destruction, have been cruising around the streets omitting an eerie final warning message to any residents still remaining.

‘A local emergency currently exists,’ a robotic male voice blares out. ‘Quickly secure your home and business and safely evacuate the area. Listen to local media and authorities for additional information.’

The area of Pinellas County is under mandatory evacuation orders, as it is expected to be hit with 155mph winds and storm surges of up to 15 feet when Milton makes landfall on Wednesday night.

The National Weather Service has released a map showing the predicted storm surges for Florida’s coastal areas.

The mid-section of the Gulf Coast, including Tampa Bay, is expected to be hardest-hit with surges of up to 15 feet.

Meanwhile, areas around Yankeetown, Anclote River, and Bonita Beach will see surges of up to 10 feet.

The surges diminish for areas further from the Tampa Bay danger zone – but the entire Gulf Coast and a large swathe of the east coast will experience a surge of some form.

Tampa Bay officials are shutting off access to running water ahead of Hurricane Milton barreling in.

Authorities in Manatee County said the ‘necessary interruption of service’ would ‘ensure the utility infrastructure remains intact and to save the sewer lift stations’ from the devastating impacts of the storm.

The county has also suspended trash pickup services.

In the Sarasota County city of Venice, faucets and even fire hydrants will be closed off from Tuesday evening.

This will continue throughout the duration of Milton’s wrath over the county plus several more days.

‘Once service is restored, you will be under a boil water advisory until you receive a notification stating the water is safe for consumption,’ city officials said.

Tampa is especially vulnerable to the destructive impacts of hurricanes, meaning Milton could be catastrophic, according to Dr Steven Godby, an expert in natural hazards in Nottingham Trent University’s School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences.

Dr Godby said this is thanks to a combination of the low-lying water close to Tampa Bay and its dense population and infrastructure.

‘Tampa has long been regarded as the most vulnerable metropolitan area in the United States to storm surge flooding,’ Dr Godby explained to DailyMail.com

‘Direct hurricane strikes on the west coast of Florida are rare, but much of it is low-lying and the relatively shallow water offshore makes it vulnerable to large storm surges.

‘The last major hurricane (Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale) to affect the Tampa Bay region made landfall in on 25 October 1921, bringing a storm surge of 3-3.5 metres and winds of 185 km/h that caused losses that today would be $180 million.

‘With Hurricane Milton bearing down on Tampa it is worth noting that the population at that time was around 160,000 and has now swelled to over three million, many living on ground less than three metres above sea level.

‘Large numbers of homes, schools, government buildings and critical infrastructure are at risk of flooding and wind damage.’

Dr Godby added that the debris left over by Hurricane Helene which struck the region two weeks ago also poses an additional risk of projectiles being whipped up by severe winds.

‘The authorities having been stressing that people living along this coast have no living memory of this kind of storm, need to evacuate if instructed to do so and to be somewhere safe by Tuesday night,’ he said.

Floridians are doing their best to protect their homes and businesses from Milton’s incoming onslaught, deploying sandbags and boarding up their windows.

Many have been told to leave immediately, and it’s uncertain what they’ll return to – as the severe hurricane is expected to cause ‘catastrophic damage’ to well-built structures, the National Hurricane Center has warned.

Lightning can be seen flickering in the eye of Hurricane Milton, which is currently barreling through the Gulf of Mexico.

Milton expanded this morning as it hurtled over the Gulf of Mexico towards Tampa – making it potentially ‘one of the most destructive hurricanes on record’ for west-central Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The hurricane’s 155mph winds are becoming more wide-reaching from the center of the storm – vastly increasing its capacity to cause widespread destruction.

Milton’s gales extended around 80 miles from the eye of the storm through Monday, and this increased to just over 100 miles by Wednesday morning.

‘Milton is still a relatively compact hurricane, but the wind field is expected to continue to grow in size as it approaches Florida,’ the National Hurricane Center said.

‘In fact, the official forecast shows the hurricane and tropical-storm-force winds roughly doubling in size by the time it makes landfall.’

The Fort Myers/Naples/Cape Coral area of Florida on the I-75 towards Miami was almost at a standstill Tuesday morning as people tried to flee.

Similar scenes are also playing out on the I-4 towards Orlando and the NB I-75 out of Tampa.