As residents of Florida’s low-lying Tampa Bay area sought to flee the brunt of Hurricane Milton upfront of its projected landfall, a video on TikTok claimed the federal authorities had deliberately trapped drivers on highways.
“My brother despatched me this,” learn a typo-filled caption over the Oct. 7 video that confirmed an enormous visitors jam alongside a roadway. “Obligatory Evacuation however now FEMA is closing Roads and In some areas inflicting 30 miles atleast of gridlock visitors.”
However the visitors jams had been brought on by mass evacuations, not street closures. And FEMA doesn’t management Florida’s emergency street and bridge closures; state businesses such because the Florida Division of Transportation and the Florida Division of Emergency Administration do, in coordination with different state and native officers.
TikTok recognized this video as a part of its efforts to counter inauthentic, deceptive or false content material. (Learn extra about PolitiFact’s partnership with TikTok.)
Hurricane Milton intensified to a Class 5 storm Oct. 7 earlier than being downgraded to a Class 4. It was anticipated to make landfall late Oct. 9 or early Oct. 10. Officers issued a number of evacuation orders within the area.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor warned native residents to take evacuations severely. “I can say this with none dramatization in any respect: In case you select to remain in a type of evacuation areas, you will die,” she stated in an Oct. 7 CNN interview.
Giant numbers of autos evacuating the Tampa Bay area prompted visitors jams alongside main roads, together with Howard Frankland Bridge, Interstate 4, Interstate 275 and elements of U.S. Freeway 19, in keeping with reviews by the Tampa Bay Instances and native information station WFLA-TV.
Visitors quantity heading north from Florida to Georgia was up 342% from typical ranges on Interstate 75 and up 264% on Interstate 95 the night of Oct. 7, the Georgia Division of Transportation stated in a press launch the following day.
“FEMA isn’t blockading folks in Florida and stopping evacuations,” FEMA said on its web site Oct. 8 in response to the social media rumors. “FEMA doesn’t management visitors move or conduct visitors stops, that are dealt with by native authorities. This can be a dangerous rumor that may put lives in peril.”
The company has issued statements on quite a few false claims about its response to Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.
State officers took actions to enhance visitors move and assist evacuating autos. Beginning Oct. 7, Florida suspended tolls, and the Florida Division of Transportation introduced autos can be allowed to drive on roadway shoulders to assist with visitors move.
The Florida Division of Transportation additionally introduced Oct. 8 that, at midday, it will lock down state drawbridges in Broward, Palm Seaside, Martin and St. Lucie counties. This closed bridges to boat visitors however saved them open for land autos.
As of Oct. 9, the Florida 511 visitors alert system within the Tampa Bay space confirmed a number of visitors closures on state and U.S. highways, many blocking entry to barrier islands and bridges because the storm rolled in. By the morning of Oct. 9, Google maps confirmed in any other case largely clear freeway visitors move across the Tampa Bay area, as did Florida 511’s visitors map.
We price the declare that “FEMA is closing roads and bridges and inflicting gridlock visitors throughout evacuations from Hurricane Milton” False.
