CNN
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Driving on highway shoulders, gas shortages and fully booked hotels.

These are some of the complications Floridians will face as they make and execute plans to leave their homes under the largest evacuation order they’ve seen since 2017. They’re bracing for Hurricane Milton, less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene devastated Florida’s Big Bend. a Category 4 storm, which left at least 20 dead in the state, while officials warned Milton’s impact could be even more severe and far-reaching.

“I can say without any dramatization, if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Monday, urging residents to heed the warnings before it’s too late. .

The state’s Department of Emergency Management is preparing for the largest evacuation since 2017, Director Kevin Guthrie said Sunday at a news conference with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who declared a state of emergency for 51 of the state’s 67 counties.

And as if residents don’t have enough on their minds as they try to evacuate, the National Weather Service office in Miami is warning that scattered tornadoes could hamper those emergency plans.

“Several locations could experience tornado damage, with some areas causing significant damage, power loss and communications disruptions,” the agency said.

To ease evacuations, people using highways to flee can use the left shoulder lane to keep traffic moving, the Florida Department of Transportation announced Monday, a move typically reserved for emergencies such as hurricanes.

“To help facilitate evacuations… emergency shoulder use (ESU) plans are actively being developed for Eastbound I-4 and portions of Northbound I-75,” the Florida DOT said in a post on X.

The traffic flow changes are also intended to ensure supplies, emergency services and utilities can reach areas that may have been affected by the storm.

“Law enforcement and signage will alert motorists when to enter and exit the shoulder,” the agency added.

Florida is also waiving tolls on Veterans Expressway and Suncoast Parkway, two sections of a state highway stretching north from Tampa, so they can be used as evacuation routes, DeSantis said Tuesday.

The Department of Transportation is monitoring traffic conditions along emergency routes as residents evacuate, and said that while heavy and slow, “traffic is still flowing and moving as intended.”

As many of the evacuees head north into Georgia through Atlanta, Peach Pass, the state’s electronic toll system, is also making traffic changes to support the traffic flood, moving some of the southbound lanes to northbound lanes, the toll authority said Monday.

For those leaving their homes, alternative accommodation in hotels or rental properties is proving expensive and difficult to find as many of them are overcrowded.

Florida-based hotel group Rosen Hotels & Resorts has activated Florida Resident Distress Rates for people who need a place to stay in other parts of the state. Meanwhile, cities as far as 400 miles north, such as Dothan, Alabama, have reported no vacancies at their area hotels.

Expedia, Priceline and vacation rental site Vrbo have activated emergency policies for travelers whose vacation plans will be affected by Hurricane Milton, according to their sites.

For campers or recreational vehicle owners looking for a safe place to travel, Atlanta Motor Speedway is opening its campgrounds to the hundreds of thousands of people evacuating their homes in Florida. It offers free dry camping, without water or electricity hookups, at the Legends Premium Campground for RVs and Legends Tent Campground for pop-up RVs and tents, Executive Vice President and General Manager Brandon Hutchison said in a news release.

“We have hundreds of acres of campsites and opening our facility is an easy choice,” Hutchison said. “If you’re in Milton’s way and looking for a place to stay, we’ve got you covered.”

Located 30 miles south of Atlanta in Hampton, Georgia, the speedway makes campsites available free of charge to evacuees for RVs and tents, and provides access to shower facilities in partnership with the Henry County Emergency Management Agency.

The campgrounds hosted evacuees during previous hurricanes, including Irma in 2017, Florence in 2018 and Idalia last year, the speedway said.

Adding to the complexity of the evacuation process is the demand for gasoline. The state of Florida is trying to keep gas stations stocked as people try to fill up before hitting the road. Others who decide to ride out the harsh weather at home are also crowding the pumps and filling gas tanks to power their generators if they lose electricity for an extended period of time.

“The lines at gas stations have been long,” DeSantis acknowledged during a news conference Tuesday. “Gas stations run out faster than they would otherwise.”

Gas price tracking service GasBuddy reported that 17.4% of gas stations statewide were out of fuel as of Tuesday afternoon, a dramatic spike from just 3% on Monday. The situation was much worse in areas under mandatory evacuation orders. In Fort Myers, on the state’s Gulf Coast, 70% of stations were without gas Monday evening.

To help combat these shortages, the state is distributing fuel from its own reserves, including more than 100,000 gallons of gasoline. Another 1.2 million gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel are on their way to the state, the governor said, noting that the Florida Highway Patrol was escorting 27 fuel trucks to deliver fuel to stations in the storm’s expected impact area.