Hurricane Milton could be ‘like nothing they have ever seen before,’ FEMA administrator warns

Even though Hurricane Milton is miles southwest of Tampa, officials in Florida are doing all they can do to brace for impact at around 9 p.m. on Wednesday, as FEMA warns that the storm could “be like nothing they have seen before.”

FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell told Robin Roberts on “Good Morning America” Wednesday morning that “while you can ride out a storm and hide from the wind, you need to move away from the water.”

“The water is what kills people,” Criswell said. “Nobody has to die from this storm. They just need to move out of the evacuation zone area into a place that is going to be safe from the storm surge. I believe there’s still time in some areas. But listen to your local officials. They’re going to tell you what you still have time to do.”

Milton regained Category 5 status with 165 mph winds on Tuesday, becoming the strongest Atlantic hurricane so late in the calendar year since Hurricane Wilma in 2005. The storm is in the Gulf of Mexico moving northeast towards Florida at around 12 mph but it has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida.

“We are sending in additional resources to help supplement all of the staff Gov. DeSantis has mobilized across the state,” Criswell said. “We have sent in additional search and rescue teams and assets to include air lift, highwater vehicles. We’re moving in commodities, food and water, to be able to get into areas. We’re bringing in power assessment teams so they can quickly help assess what areas and what critical infrastructure might need power restored fast … they are working side by side with the mayor’s team [in Tampa] so we can quickly mobilize these resources to help them with whatever their needs are right after the storm passes.”

Milton is forecast to weaken as it approaches Florida but is expected to be a Category 4 hurricane when it makes landfall late Wednesday night or early Thursday near Tampa and Sarasota.

Meanwhile, officials in St. Petersburg issued a public safety advisory Tuesday for residents and businesses near tower cranes ahead of Hurricane Milton making landfall in Florida. Due to anticipated wind gusts from the storm exceeding 100 mph, the high winds could potentially exceed the safe operational limits for tower cranes and pose a risk of malfunction, the city said in a press release.

“We’ve done this before. We’ve done multiple events before,” Criswell said of FEMA’s efforts in advance of the storm. “I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. We plan for this. We’ve done this. We’re going to make sure nobody has needs and we’ll keep people there to support them.”

On Tuesday, the mayor of Bradenton, Florida, joined ABC News Live and issued a grave warning to residents who are not planning to evacuate.

“Get out of these areas because we can replace your home, we can’t replace your life,” Mayor Gene Brown said. “And we don’t want to be finding bodies floating in rivers — and we’ve seen that before,” he added.