Pinellas sheriff vows to shut down businesses that don’t heed evacuation orders ahead of Hurricane Milton

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Published  October 6, 2024 9:58pm EDT
FOX 13 News
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Pinellas County prepares for Hurricane Milton

Pinellas County officials are urging residents and businesses to prepare for Hurricane Milton and heed evacuation orders. Jordan Bowen reports.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The sheriff of Pinellas County warned bars, restaurants and other businesses to follow evacuation orders or risk being shut down. 

Beginning Sunday, Pinellas County ordered all long-term care facilities, assisted-living facilities, and hospitals in zones A, B, and C to evacuate. Meanwhile, many residents spent the day stocking up on groceries and supplies to prepare for Hurricane Milton.

"I lived here my whole life. I'm 29 now. It scared me enough," resident Hope Swaim said. "We definitely put sandbags out. This is the first time we did that. Everyone we know who is usually like we will ride it out is leaving."

So far, the evacuations that have been ordered include 6 hospitals, 25 nursing homes, and 44 assisted living facilities, totaling about 6,600 patients.

READ: Hurricane Milton rapidly intensifying, expected to hit Florida as major hurricane

"We have time on our side. We've got a few days to prepare for this," St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch explained. "We've got resources in terms of safe places for folks to go, in terms of shelters and we have knowledge. We know where the surge will go. We have the evacuation zones built on that. All we need from the community is for you to listen and respond to the call to evacuate."

Stores across the Bay Area were out of bottled water ahead of Hurricane Milton. 

As for preparations, shelves at a Publix in St. Pete were already emptied of bottled water. 

By Sunday afternoon, places like Home Depot and Lowe's were already out of sandbags and tarps as people stock up to protect their homes.

READ: Sandbag sites open across Bay Area in preparation for Hurricane Milton

"Today we are finishing up getting all these sandbags here then we're going to head back to the crib and put everything up put some tarp down and get everything moved out of the garage. Everything on the lower areas get it moved up," resident Marco Williams shared.

Bay Area residents stocked up on supplies at home improvement stores ahead of Hurricane Milton. 

Meanwhile, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri issued a strong warning to any businesses or bars that stay open that are in mandatory evacuation zones.

"In the past, mandatory evacuation orders have been issued and bars stay open. Restaurants stay open. And people just go about their business in stores. That's not going to happen this time. We're going to shut you down because we can't have the tragedy that we had a week and a half ago," Gualtieri said.

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