Pinellas County opens more shelters as businesses close ahead of Hurricane Milton

Preparing for Milton: Pinellas County

If you finished up your preparations, you may have noticed there weren't a lot of options open. Time is running out to get your food, water and home prepared. Genevieve Curtis reports.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - On Beach Drive in Downtown St. Petersburg, every business is closed. It is part of a mandatory evacuation zone where all businesses had to close at 5 a.m. on Tuesday.

But businesses are closed all over St. Pete ahead of Hurricane Milton as many seem to be heeding the warnings to leave during the final hours of preparations in Pinellas County.

READ: Hurricane Milton: Pinellas County updates & information

For some, there isn’t much left they can do, even if they wanted to.

All businesses in Zones A, B and C closed at 5 a.m, Tuesday, even grocery stores like Publix closed in those areas. A few places, like Home Depot, remained open Tuesday for those needing to grab last-minute items.

And some are still working to secure their homes. Brian Peret said there is still work to be done on his home in Campbell Park.

He was planning on riding out the storm at a co-working space downtown, but at the last minute, because a few large cranes downtown can’t be secured.

READ: St. Pete construction cranes could pose a threat during Hurricane Milton

He said the fire department told them they had to leave that space.

"We've got buildings that are over 100 years old. They've never seen this kind of wind. They've never seen this kind of rain. And it's coming, its scary," said Peret.

Options are still available. The county opened additional shelters in Clearwater and St. Pete after more than 6,000 people sought shelter as of Tuesday evening.

Officials want you to be in your safe place soon.

St. Pete police said businesses that stay open in evac zones could face fines or arrest.

But really, we’ve seen most following those orders and lots of places closed that aren’t even in an evacuation zone.

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