In happier times, Interstate 4 from Tampa to Orlando is flooded with fun-seekers heading to Disney theme parks and similar fun pursuits in Florida. But on Tuesday, a deep sense of foreboding hung over the long lines of near-standstill traffic as Hurricane Milton, the strongest storm expected to hit Tampa Bay in more than a century, barreled into the Gulf of Mexico and edged ever closer to its target . .

Hundreds of thousands of Florida residents, heeding urgent warnings from authorities to flee while they still had the chance, were stuck in traffic jams as they headed inland to safety. Some even took to the air, injuring three people when their small plane crashed in Tampa Bay during their escape attempt Tuesday morning.

“There probably won’t be enough time to wait until Wednesday to depart,” the National Hurricane Center in Miami warned mid-morning.

Families who left their homes in evacuation zones in low-lying coastal areas such as Clearwater and St. Petersburg — where Milton’s storm surge could peak as high as 15 feet — were unsure where they would return.

But the risk of sheltering in place, as so many did at great cost during Hurricane Helene, which tore through Florida’s Panhandle into the Carolinas and beyond 11 days ago, was not an option.

Reflecting on Helene’s death toll, which stands at at least 227, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor was as blunt as she could be in urging people to leave. “I can say this without any dramatization: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you will die,” she said in an appearance on CNN.

Her words resonate. The west coast of Florida has seen this before, most recently in 2022 when Hurricane Ian struck south of Tampa Bay, claiming 149 lives. The majority drowned in an 18-foot storm surge, which is essentially a rushing wall of ocean water driven inland by a hurricane’s winds — and there were questions about why authorities delayed an evacuation order until the day before landfall.

For many, the call came too late, and people who were reluctant or lacked the means to join the long lines opted to shelter in place.

On Tuesday, hurricane refugees filled Orlando hotel rooms mostly occupied by tourists and convention attendees, or moved north or south away from the danger zone, into areas of Georgia not affected by Helene, or into the Miami metropolitan area in southeastern Florida.

“For every room that we’ve had to cancel because of a convention or something that we can’t get to, we’re refilling that room with someone who was impacted by this storm,” said Jennifer Rice-Palmer, director of guest relations at Orlando’s Rosen Center hotel, told the Orlando Sentinel.

The newspaper spoke with Nick Santos, an evacuee from Tampa who, along with his wife Tara and their children Scarlett, six, and Cole, three, took advantage of the hotel’s discounted rates.

“It’s part of life where we live, but it can be a big and scary event for them,” Santos said, explaining why he left early with his children and took them to an amusement park. Disney said in a statement that it was “closely monitoring the path of the expected storm,” but announced the closure of some of its residential resorts as of Wednesday.

Emergency shelters also welcomed evacuees, with spaces still available in several Gulf Coast counties on Tuesday.

Back in Tampa, meanwhile, rental companies were running out of vehicles, gas stations were emptying and many grocery stores were out of storm supplies like water, paper towels and cleaning products.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has lifted tolls on major highways and opened emergency lanes to ease traffic flow. But officials said traffic levels were above 150% of normal and accidents blocked some routes.

“Unfortunately, we see traffic fatalities with every storm because people wait until the last minute to leave,” Florida Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue said at a news conference Tuesday morning.

A small plane carrying four people and a dog crashed into Tampa Bay Tuesday morning shortly after takeoff from Albert Whitted Airport in downtown St. Petersburg. The occupants were rescued by nearby boaters and three were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The plane reportedly sank.

Analysts fear the Tampa Bay area, home to more than three million people — many of whom have never experienced a hurricane of Milton’s magnitude — is particularly vulnerable.

“It’s a huge population. It is very vulnerable, very inexperienced and that is a losing proposition,” Kerry Emanuel, professor of meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told the Associated Press, referring to the storm as the “black swan” that experts have feared for years . .

“I always thought Tampa would be the city to worry about the most.”

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, tens of thousands of Americans have moved to the area, with 51,622 new residents between 2022 and 2023, making it the fifth fastest growing metropolitan area in the country, according to the US Census Bureau.

AccuWeather meteorologists reinforced the “get out early” message, warning that Milton could have a “worst-case impact” for the Tampa Bay area even before Wednesday evening’s expected landfall.

“You don’t want to wait until a storm surge breaks out before you take action. We saw so many preventable tragedies during Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Ian,” said Jon Porter, AccuWeather chief meteorologist.

“Please leave areas at risk of this devastating storm surge while you still can. We are very concerned that Hurricane Milton could become one of the most damaging and costly storms Florida has ever seen.”