After Hillsborough County issued mandatory evacuations for parts of the Tampa Bay area ahead of Hurricane Ian, Tampa mayor Jane Castor urged residents to leave.
"We are asking everyone to go ahead and make those plans to leave from the Zone A, which basically is all the waterfront. We have about 126 miles of waterfront just in our city alone ... You don't have to evacuate far. You just need to get away from the water," she told CNN.
The main concern, Castor says, is the storm surge, which could be anywhere between 10 to 15 feet.
"While the weather is cooperating," residents should "just get out of those high water areas," she said Monday. "The storm is bringing all of the water into Tampa Bay, which as you know is very shallow. And so those storm surges could be anywhere from 10 to 15 feet, and possibly higher, as well. So that clearly will be very impactful and devastating for certain areas."
Addressing residents who do not want to leave their possessions behind, Castor reminded, "you certainly can replace personal possessions. You can't bring anyone back to life."
"Mother nature always wins. And this storm is going to be a very impactful storm whether it is offshore or it comes closer to Tampa Bay. And so this is nothing to mess around with. If you can leave, just leave now. And we will take care of your personal property.
You can find your evacuation zone with this online tool.
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