FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (AP) — Milton increased to a Category 2 hurricane early Monday as Florida gears up for what could be its biggest evacuation in seven years as the storm heads toward major population centers including Tampa and Orlando.
Hurricane Milton was strengthening over the southern Gulf of Mexico as storm surge and hurricane watches for parts of Florida and a hurricane warning for the Mexican coast were issued, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. The storm-ravaged Gulf Coast in Florida was expected to hit again.
While forecast models vary widely, the most likely path suggests Milton could make landfall Wednesday in the Tampa Bay area and remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida into the Atlantic Ocean. That would largely spare other southeastern states ravaged by Hurricane Helene, which caused catastrophic damage from Florida into the Appalachian Mountains and a death toll that rose Sunday to at least 230 people.
The Mexican government issued a hurricane warning for the Yucatan Peninsula from Celestun to Rio Lagartos, the center said.
About 7 million people were urged to evacuate Florida in 2017 as Hurricane Irma bore down on the state. The exodus jammed freeways, led to hourslong lines at gas stations that still had fuel and left evacuees frustrated and, in some cases, vowing never to evacuate again.
Building on lessons learned during Irma and other previous storms, Florida is staging emergency fuel for gas vehicles and charging stations for electric vehicles along evacuation routes, Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said at a Sunday briefing.
“We are looking at every potential, possible location that can potentially house someone, as what we refer to in emergency management, as a refuge of last resort,” Guthrie added.
The storm, which the center said was likely to become a major hurricane Monday, was centered about 195 miles (314 kilometers) west-northwest of Progreso, Mexico, and 750 miles (1,207 kilometers) west-southwest of Tampa with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (161 kph) while moving east-southeast at 8 mph (12.8 kph), the hurricane center said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday that while it remains to be seen where Milton will strike, it’s clear the state is going to be hit hard.
“I don’t think there’s any scenario where we don’t have major impacts at this point," he said.
“You have time to prepare — all day today, all day Monday, probably all day Tuesday to be sure your hurricane preparedness plan is in place,” DeSantis said. “If you’re on that west coast of Florida, barrier islands, just assume you’ll be asked to leave.”
With Milton achieving hurricane status, this is the first time the Atlantic has had three simultaneous hurricanes after September, according to Colorado State University hurricane scientist Phil Klotzbach. There have been four simultaneous hurricanes in August and September.
The St. Petersburg-Tampa Bay area is still cleaning up extensive damage from Helene and its powerful storm surge. Twelve people perished as Helene swamped the coast, with the worst damage along the narrow, 20-mile (32-kilometer) string of barrier islands that stretch from St. Petersburg to Clearwater.
DeSantis expanded his state of emergency declaration Sunday to 51 counties and said Floridians should prepare for more power outages and disruption, making sure they have a week’s worth of food and water and are ready to hit the road.
“We are preparing ... for the largest evacuation that we have seen, most likely since 2017, Hurricane Irma," Guthrie said.
People who live in homes built after Florida strengthened codes in 2004, who don’t depend on constant electricity and who aren’t in evacuation zones should probably avoid the roads, Guthrie said.
All classes and school activities in St. Petersburg’s Pinellas County preemptively closed Monday through Wednesday as Milton approached. Officials in Tampa opened all city garages free of charge to residents hoping to protect their cars from floodwaters, including electric vehicles. The vehicles must be left on the third floor or higher in each garage.
As many as 4,000 National Guard troops are helping state crews to remove debris, DeSantis said, and he directed Florida crews dispatched to North Carolina in Helene’s aftermath to return in preparation for Milton.
“All available state assets ... are being marshaled to help remove debris,” DeSantis said. “We’re going 24-7 ... it’s all hands on deck.”
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell defended her agency’s response to Hurricane’s destruction after Republicans’ false claims, amplified by former President Donald Trump, created a frenzy of misinformation across devastated communities.
“This kind of rhetoric is not helpful to people and it’s really a shame we’re putting politics ahead of helping people,” Criswell told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. It has created fear and mistrust among residents against the thousands of FEMA employees and volunteers on the ground across the southeast, she said.
Despite this, Criswell said the agency is already preparing for Milton, well before it’s clear exactly where the storm will move across the Florida peninsula.
Federal disaster assistance has surpassed $137 million since Helene struck more than a week ago, one of the largest mobilizations of personnel and resources in recent history, FEMA said Sunday.
Some 1,500 active-duty troops, more than 6,100 National Guardsmen and nearly 7,000 federal workers have been deployed, shipping more than 14.9 million meals, 13.9 million liters (3.6 million gallons) of water, 157 generators and 505,000 tarps, along with approving more than $30 million in housing and other types of assistance for over 27,000 households, according to FEMA, the White House and the Department of Defense.
More than 800 people unable to return home are staying in lodging provided through FEMA and 22 shelters are still housing nearly 1,000 people as mobile feeding operations continue to help survivors. The response to Helene won’t let up during Milton and its aftermath, because FEMA has the capacity to address multiple disasters simultaneously, the agency said.
“My Administration is sparing no resource to support families as they begin their road to rebuilding,” President Joe Biden said. “We will continue working hand-in-hand with local and state leaders — regardless of political party and no matter how long it takes.”
This satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration taken at 11:36pm ET on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, shows Hurricane Milton. (NOAA via AP)
Palestinian militants in Gaza fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Monday as mourners marked the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack, without disrupting a nearby ceremony.
Hamas also said it attacked Israeli forces in different parts of Gaza. The Israeli military said it launched a wave of artillery and airstrikes overnight and into Monday to thwart what it said was an imminent attack. It said it targeted Hamas launch posts and underground militant infrastructure.
The fighting on the anniversary underscored the militants’ resilience in the face of a devastating Israeli offensive that has killed around 42,000 Palestinians, according to local medical officials. It has also destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population.
Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed into nearby army bases and farming communities in a surprise attack one year ago, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. They are still holding around 100 captives inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon. It has also vowed to strike Iran in response to a ballistic missile attack on Israel last week.
Here is The Latest:
KIBBUTZ BE’ERI, Israel — Members of Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the hardest-hit communities during the Oct. 7 attack, gathered amid the burned ruins of their homes and demanded an immediate return of the hostages during a memorial and rally on Monday.
More than 95 people were killed there and 30 were taken hostage on Oct. 7, according to the community’s spokesperson. Some of the women and children from the kibbutz were released in a cease-fire deal in November, but 10 hostages from Be’eri remain in captivity. Israel believes most of them are no longer alive.
On Monday, the community marched silently through the streets of the kibbutz bearing signs of the hostages before gathering for a rally, unfurling a massive flag with the words “Be’eri cannot heal until everyone is home.”
Ella Ben-Ami, whose father Ohad Ben-Ami was kidnapped from Be’eri, addressed the crowd and demanded the government of Israel bring her father home.
She said she continues to take solace from the video of his kidnapping, when he stands tall and proud, as if he knew he was being filmed, to broadcast a message to his family that he would be OK.
Many people at Be’eri were dreading the anniversary, which felt like an “impossible” amount of time, she said. “But then I stop for a moment I think that my father woke up today to count a year in captivity, a year!” she said.
ROME — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, who has voiced strong support for Israel, commemorated the Oct. 7 anniversary by visiting the main synagogue in Rome and reaffirming Israel’s right to defend itself.
Meloni also denounced the “latent and rampant antisemitism” that has arisen in the year since the Hamas attacks, citing in particular pro-Palestinian protests in Italy over the weekend, some of which turned violent.
While asserting Israel’s lights to live safely within its borders, she insisted that it respect international law and lamented the devastation unleashed by Israeli forces in Gaza. She said Palestinians in Gaza had been “victims twice over: first of Hamas’ cynicism, which uses them as human shields, and then of Israeli military operations.”
As the current president of the Group of Seven, Italy will continue to work for an immediate cease-fire, “the release of Israeli hostages and the stabilization of the Israeli-Lebanese border through the full implementation of U.N. resolutions,” Meloni said.
Since coming to office in 2022, Meloni has taken several initiatives to show her strong support for Italy’s Jewish community and Israel. Her Brothers of Italy party has roots in the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement, or MSI, which was founded in 1946 by sympathizers of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.
TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military said on Monday that projectiles fired from Gaza set off sirens in central Tel Aviv, as Israel marks a year to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injury. The sirens came as Israelis were marking the anniversary to the deadliest attack in their country’s history. That attack one year ago began with a volley of rockets from Gaza.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes hit two makeshift points used by Hamas-run police at a hospital in central Gaza, wounding a journalist. There were no police present at the sites when they were hit early Monday.
Ali al-Attar, a journalist working for Al Jazeera, was hit by shrapnel while he was inside a tent used by reporters nearby, according to an Associated Press journalist.
Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, operated a police force numbering in the tens of thousands before the war. They have adopted a low profile after being repeatedly targeted by Israeli strikes but still maintain control on the ground in Gaza.
BEIRUT — The Lebanese Hezbollah militant group on Monday reaffirmed its commitment to support Hamas by fighting Israel along Lebanon's southern border.
The statement came a year after its allies from the Palestinian Hamas group staged a surprise attack into southern Israel, setting off the war, and amid ongoing intense Israeli airstrikes and a ground incursion into Lebanon.
Hezbollah maintains that it will stop its attacks if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, and although its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed. Large swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon have been targeted in Israeli airstrikes.
“We are confident, God willing, in the ability of our resistance to repel the aggression, and in our great and resistant people to be patient, steadfast, and endure until this calamity is removed,” Hezbollah said.
The Lebanese government estimates that some 1.2 million people in Lebanon have been displaced, mostly during the escalations less than a month ago.
Hezbollah also praised Iran and other Tehran-backed groups in the region, notably Yemen's Houthis and Iraqi Shiite militias for their attacks on Israel.
BE’ERI, Israel — Across southern Israel on Monday, families gathered in spots where their loved ones were killed during Hamas’ attack, marking a year since the assault that sparked the war in Gaza.
They crowded into roadside bomb shelters that became death traps when people seeking shelter from Hamas rockets and militants were sprayed with bullets or struck by grenades.
People were also visiting spots on the side of a main road marked with memorials.
In Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the hardest-hit communities struck in Hamas’ attack, where roughly 100 residents were killed and 30 kidnapped on Oct. 7, hundreds marched silently holding signs bearing photos of people still being held captive in Gaza. They held a rally in front of homes destroyed in the attack.
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron took to social media on Monday to mark the one-year anniversary since Hamas’ attack on Israel.
“The pain remains, as vivid as it was a year ago. The pain of the Israeli people. Ours. The pain of wounded humanity,” Macron said on X. “We do not forget the victims, the hostages, or the families with broken hearts from absence or waiting. I send them our fraternal thoughts.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot was in Israel for the anniversary and attended a memorial service at the site of the Nova music festival where hundreds were killed in Hamas’ attack.
Barrot, talking to the families of victims, pledged France’s support in the face of “the worst anti-Semitic massacre in our history since the Holocaust.”
“The joyful dawn of what should have been a day of celebration was suddenly torn apart by unspeakable horror,” he said. “France mourns alongside Israel our 48 compatriots victims of barbarism.”
Barrot, who is expected to speak with his counterpart Israel Katz later Monday, said that Macron will also meet in Paris with family members of Israelis held hostage today.
TOKYO — Japan has expressed its condolences to families of victims on the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and demanded the immediate release of hostages.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters on Monday that Japan is seriously concerned about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip amid continued fighting, the large number of civilian casualties and the ongoing security threats to both Israeli and Palestinian people.
“Japan continues to urge all parties including Israel to comply with international law, including international humanitarian law, and strongly urges them to steadily work toward realization of a cease-fire,” Hayashi said.
He added that Japan strongly supports mediation efforts by the United States, Egypt and Qatar in achieving negotiations for the release of the hostages and a cease-fire.
TEL AVIV, Israel — A group representing the families of Israeli hostages announced on Monday the death of a captive whose body is still being held in Gaza.
The Hostages and Families Forum said Idan Shtivi, 28, was captured from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7. He was thought to have been taken alive.
Israeli media reported that he was killed that day and his body was taken into Gaza.
It was not immediately clear how Shtivi’s death became apparent, but in previous such announcements, the Israeli military has discovered evidence indicating a hostage’s death.
The announcement of Shtivi’s death comes as Israelis are marking one year since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, where militants killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 others. About 100 remain in captivity, although more than a third of those are said to be dead.
RE’IM, Israel — Hundreds of families and friends of people killed at the Nova music festival gathered Monday at the site of the attack, where nearly 400 were gunned down during Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault.
Families gathered around photos of their loved ones, which were arranged in a semicircle around what was the DJ stage. Many lit candles and added mementos or photos, crying and embracing. Overhead, army helicopters circled and constant booms echoed across the area, causing many to flinch.
“We can’t understand how a year has passed,” said Shimon Busika, whose son, Yarden, 25, was killed at the festival. “It’s the most natural place to be, to be here for this moment of silence,” he said.
Busika said it took them a long time, piecing together testimony from other survivors, to understand what happened in Yarden’s last moments. They now know he was killed around 9:20 near a yellow container at the festival where many others were killed, and they will hold a second minute of silence there at the moment he was killed.
The last sounds of the trance track that was playing at the Nova site on Oct. 7 one year ago stopped abruptly, as hundreds of family members and friends of the more than 300 victims stood in a moment of silence. One woman’s piercing wail broke the silence as booms echoed from the fighting in Gaza, just a few kilometers (miles) away.
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Twenty Indonesian nationals and a Lebanese evacuated from Lebanon arrived in Jakarta on a commercial flight early Monday and will likely be followed by 20 more in the afternoon, officials said.
President Joko Widodo has called to prioritize the evacuation of Indonesians in Lebanon as hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah escalate and fears of a wider regional war in the Middle East grow.
“I have directed the foreign affairs minister to take immediate action to ensure the safety and protection of our citizens and expedite their evacuation,” Widodo said last week.
Indonesia’s Embassy in Beirut had prepared evacuation procedures for citizens as part of its contingency planning since August. The Embassy evacuated 25 Indonesian citizens who returned safely to Indonesia last month, said Judha Nugraha, Director of Indonesian Citizen Protection at the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
There are 116 registered Indonesian citizens in Lebanon, most of them students, migrant workers and people married to Lebanese nationals. Many of them have chosen to remain there for various reasons, Nugraha said.
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement Monday that the day carried “terrible pain” and his government “unequivocally” condemned Hamas' attack on Israel a year ago.
Hamas militants stormed from the blockaded Gaza Strip into nearby Israeli towns on Oct. 7 a year ago, killing dozens and abducting others in an unprecedented surprise attack.
Albanese said that since the attack, Jewish Australians have “felt the cold shadows of antisemitism reaching into the present day — and as a nation we say never again.”
“We unequivocally condemn all prejudice and hatred. There is no place in Australia for discrimination against people of any faith,” Albanese said.
He added that “every innocent life matters” and the number of civilians killed in the conflict was “a devastating tragedy.”
“Today we reflect on the truth of our shared humanity, of the hope that peace is possible, and the belief that it belongs to all people,” Albanese said.
BEIRUT — A new round of airstrikes hit Beirut suburbs late Sunday as Israel intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Lebanon. Palestinian officials said a strike on a mosque in Gaza killed at least 19 people.
Rocket sirens and blasts were heard in Haifa in northern Israel late Sunday, and Hezbollah claimed the attack.
Israel’s military said at least five projectiles were identified coming from Lebanon and “fallen projectiles” were found in the area. The military showed what appeared to be rubble along a street. The Magen David Adom ambulance service said it was treating a teen with shrapnel injuries to the head and a man who fell from a window due to a blast.
Lebanese men ride a scooter past a damaged building hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
People visit the site of the Nova music festival, where hundreds of revelers were killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, on the one-year anniversary of the attack, near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
People visit the site of the Nova music festival, where hundreds of revelers were killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, on the one-year anniversary of the attack, near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Victoria stands in front a picture of her sister, Yulia Waxer Daunt, as she visits the site of the Nova music festival, where hundreds of revelers were killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, on the one-year anniversary of the attack, near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
A man takes pictures by his mobile phone of destroyed buildings hit by Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Victoria stands in front a picture of her sister, Yulia Waxer Daunt, as she visits the site of the Nova music festival, where hundreds of revelers were killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, on the one-year anniversary of the attack, near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
