More than 3 million people live in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, and hundreds of thousands of them are very tightly concentrated along the coast.  Most of them are attempting to evacuate, but there are apparently large numbers of local residents that are choosing not to do so.  This is very foolish, because their homes are about to be underwater.  Sadly, many of those that are trying to evacuate are stuck in extremely long traffic jams.  Those that run low on gasoline as they sit in those traffic jams are discovering that a lot of gas stations are already totally out of fuel.  In fact, as you will see below, CNN is reporting that 1,300 Florida gas stations have now run out of gasoline, and more gas stations are going dry with each passing hour.  Whether willingly or unwillingly, vast numbers of people are going to end up stuck in this storm, and the death toll is likely to be extremely high.

According to the National Weather Service, it appears that this will be "the worst storm to impact the Tampa area in over 100 years"…

"If the storm stays on the current track, it will be the worst storm to impact the Tampa area in over 100 years," the National Weather Service in Tampa warned, adding, "Milton continues to pose a potentially catastrophic threat to parts of the west Florida coast."

100 years ago, not that many people lived in that part of Florida.

Today, more than 3 million people live in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area.

Early on Tuesday, Milton had been downgraded to a Category 4 storm, but then it strengthened again and sustained winds were back up to 155 mph…

Milton had undergone stunningly rapid intensification Monday, its sustained winds reaching 180 mph. By Tuesday the wind speed dropped dramatically although still a fierce Category 4 storm. It climbed back to 155 Tuesday afternoon, just below Category 5 status. Fluctuations were expected as the storm closes in on Florida, said John Cangialosi, a specialist with the National Hurricane Center.

As I write this article, sustained winds are back up to 165 miles per hour, and that officially makes Milton a Category 5 storm once again.