Millions of Floridians have been ordered to evacuate from the Gulf Coast as an approaching major hurricane threatens the first direct strike on the densely populated Tampa Bay area in 100 years.

Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 51 counties and said residents can expect a “flurry” of evacuation orders. State officials called it the largest evacuation since Hurricane Irma in 2017, when about 7 million Floridians fled their homes.

The storm, Hurricane Milton, comes as the Tampa region is still reeling from Hurricane Helene, which led to a storm surge that killed 12 people less than two weeks ago. Forecasters predict Milton could push a wall of water on shore that could reach as high as 15 feet (4.6 meters) in Tampa Bay, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

Vehicles were streaming north toward the Florida Panhandle on Interstate 75 as residents heeded evacuation orders, according to the Associated Press. Traffic clogged the southbound lanes for miles as other residents headed for the relative safety of Fort Lauderdale and Miami on the Atlantic Coast. In a briefing Tuesday morning, DeSantis assured residents that there was “no fuel shortage.”

Shirl Penney, chief executive officer of Dynasty Financial Partners in St. Petersburg, already lost his home in Hurricane Helene. His family of four has been living in a cramped condo in downtown St. Petersburg. After a week of dragging their salvageable belongings out of a waterlogged and molding home, they’re planning to evacuate again.

Penney’s family has flights booked for Tuesday midday, hoping to beat inevitable airport closures as the storm nears. His firm has also secured a block of hotel rooms in both downtown St. Petersburg, a higher elevation area, and the Orlando region.

“To have everyone go through that emotional toll and then go through that again 10 days later, it’s hard to put into words how difficult it is,” he said, noting that about 15 of his team members also had their houses destroyed during Hurricane Helene.

Dynasty was one of the first big financial firms to relocate its operations to Florida in 2019, ahead of a pandemic-era trend of Wall Street players moving to the Sunshine State. He’s been a huge proponent of the area, even helping convince his good friend Cathie Wood to move Ark Investment Management to St. Petersburg in 2021.

“We’ve ridden out a number of hurricanes and storms over the years, but never have we been faced with two storms like this back to back,” Penney said. “It’s one of the largest-scale evacuations the area has ever seen.”

Hurricane Milton is expected to hit near the Tampa area Wednesday evening and rip through Central Florida, including Orlando, before exiting on the state’s east coast on Thursday morning.

Even with stern warnings from officials, Florida’s infamous hurricanes tend to have evacuation holdouts, who risk riding out the storm at home.

“Please, if you are in the Tampa Bay area, you need to evacuate,” Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said at a briefing Monday. “Drowning deaths due to storm surge are 100% preventable if you leave.”

MacDill Air Force Base, a sprawling complex that is home to US Central Command and US Special Operations Command, relocated the base’s aircraft on Sunday and ordered most personnel to evacuate the base between Monday and Tuesday.

With assistance from Brian K. Sullivan.

previous coverage

• Number of active-duty soldiers deployed to help Helene recovery reaches 1,500 as Hurricane Milton nears Florida
• Nails, ovens: Helene’s debris could be a major hazard during Milton
• In North Carolina, there was before Helene. This is the after.