A Florida jail is reportedly choosing not to evacuate its inmates, even though it lies in the path of Hurricane Milton.
Hurricane Milton is expected to strike parts of the United States today (October 9), with Florida projected to experience the worst impact.
Given this forecast, several areas in the state have been advised to evacuate.
Emphasizing the intensity of Hurricane Milton, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor described the impending severe weather as ‘literally catastrophic.’
“I can tell you right now, that they may have done that with others but there has never been one like this,” she stated to CNN on Monday (October 7).
“Helene was a wake-up call, this is literally catastrophic. I can say this without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die.”
Despite alerts such as Castor’s, Manatee County Jail has reportedly decided not to evacuate its 1,200 inmates as of yesterday.
According to a deputy employed at the jail, the facility is located in Zone A, an area under mandatory evacuation orders from Manatee County for Zones A and B.
Manatee County Public Safety Director Jodie Fiske informed Newsweek, “We do not issue evacuation orders lightly.”
“Milton is anticipated to cause more storm surge than Helene. So, if you stayed during Helene and got lucky, I would not press my luck with this particular system.”
Nevertheless, the deputy noted that officials have no current plan to evacuate the jail, as it has not experienced flooding of that magnitude before.
Prison guards are also expected to stay onsite during the storm.
Reportedly, the jail has prepared by stocking supplies and sandbags. If flooding does occur, inmates will be relocated to the higher floors of the facility.
UNILAD has sought additional comments from the Manatee County Sheriff and Jodie Fiske.
Hurricane Milton’s anticipated strength has prompted experts to contemplate establishing a new hurricane category.
Currently, Category five hurricanes have winds ‘157 mph or higher (252 km/h or higher),’ but Hurricane Milton has already reached winds of 180 mph.
A paper published earlier this year by retired federal scientist Jim Kossin and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory climate scientist Michael Wehner explored the idea of a ‘hypothetical category six,’ with a minimum wind speed of 192 mph.
The paper also mentioned that ‘a number of recent storms have already achieved this hypothetical category six intensity, and based on multiple independent lines of evidence examining the highest simulated and potential peak wind speeds, more such storms are projected as the climate continues to warm.’
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