Evacuation Financial News

Hurricane Milton barreled into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday after plowing across Florida, where it knocked out power to more than 3 million customers and whipped up 150 tornadoes. The storm caused at least four deaths and compounded the misery wrought by Helene while sparing Tampa a direct hit.The system tracked to the south in the final hours and made landfall late Wednesday as a Category 3 storm in Siesta Key, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Tampa.

Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida, expected to make landfall some time Wednesday evening, locals across the state are scrambling to make emergency preparations and hundreds of thousands are attempting to leave what are expected to be the hardest-hit areas.But with one million people in coastal areas under evacuation orders, highways to higher ground clogged and gas stations running out of fuel, many Floridians are choosing to stay — hoping they can ride out the storm.It’s a huge gamble. On Tuesday, Tampa Bay Mayor Jane Castor issued a blunt warning for those in her city: “If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you’re going to die,” she told CNN, and later noted that the up to 4.5 metres of storm surge expected in her city would be deep enough to swallow an entire house.“So if you’re in it, basically that’s the coffin that you’re in,” she said.The Tampa Bay area, home to more than 3.3 million people, faces the possibility of widespread destruction after avoiding direct hits from major hurricanes for more than a century.

As Hurricane Milton, an intense Category 4 storm, closes in on Florida’s coastal areas, officials are urging residents to evacuate while they still have time.

For some residents of storm-prone Southeastern states, the best indicator of a hurricane's severity can be found at the local Waffle House

The hunt for gasoline is among the many stresses for Floridians preparing for Hurricane Milton, regardless of whether they plan to ride it out or evacuate

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Hurricane Milton strengthened to a Category 5 storm on Monday just an hour before lunch time local time, as Florida ramps up efforts for potentially its biggest evacuation in seven years – just days after the significant impact of the hurricane Helene.

Air search and rescue teams on Saturday found 39 more storm survivors who were still stranded in western North Carolina, state Gov. Roy Cooper’s office said.

Middle East, India on Friday said that it has not yet initiated an evacuation process to bring back Indians from Israel, Iran, and other countries in the region. During the weekly briefing, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal emphasised that flight services are still available for those who wish to return to India. Jaiswal further talked about India's stance on the ongoing tensions, saying «We issued a statement a few days back expressing deep concern — we said that the violence and the situation is of deep concern for us. We had reiterated a call for restraint by all concerned and also the protection of civilians.»

Will Smith, the charismatic star renowned for his role as the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and his action-packed legacy, has been at the center of a rather unusual anecdote from the set of the iconic 1997 film Men in Black. Director Barry Sonnenfeld revealed a humorous incident during an appearance on the podcast Let's Talk Off-Camera With Kelly Ripa, where he recounted how a single fart led to the evacuation of the entire movie set for three hours, as mentioned in a report by Movieweb. Sonnenfeld recounted the story of a particular filming sequence that involved Smith and his co-star Tommy Lee Jones being sealed inside a pod for a scene featuring the film's transforming car.

southern Lebanon that are north of a UN-declared buffer zone, signaling that it may widen a ground operation launched earlier this week against the Hezbollah militant group. Israel has told people to leave Nabatieh, a provincial capital, and other communities north of the Litani River, which formed the northern edge of the border zone established by the UN Security Council after the 2006 war in a resolution that both sides accuse the other of violating. At least eight Israeli soldiers have been killed in clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where Israel announced the start of what it says is a limited ground incursion earlier this week. The region was meanwhile bracing for Israeli retaliation following an Iranian ballistic missile attack.

Authorities say heavy smoke is causing low visibility along Interstate 20 east of Atlanta from chemicals spewing from a beleaguered chlorine facility

Iran-Israel conflict escalates, according to TOI. The rising tensions, fueled by Iran's missile attacks on Tel Aviv and other cities on Wednesday, have left many Indian workers and students deeply anxious. “The situation is tough… We’ve never faced anything as threatening as this,” shared Rajesh Medicherla, a caregiver from Telangana working in Tel Aviv. Medicherla recorded a video showing a missile striking a building in the city, and in the footage, he can be heard exclaiming in Telugu, “bro… bro… padutundi (brother, it’s falling)!” He added that no one expected the missiles to reach as far as Tel Aviv. The attacks have left many Indian nationals, including students and workers, deeply unsettled. Although most remain safe for now, there is a growing sense of alarm as the situation could worsen at any moment. Several research scholars from Bengal, who are currently in Israel, are anxious to return to India but are facing obstacles. With most international flights grounded, their attempts to return home are being thwarted. Many are awaiting instructions from India’s Ministry of External Affairs regarding possible evacuations.

A chemical plant fire southeast of Atlanta is still causing trouble two days later

Officials say the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa was evacuated twice in two days after the discovery of two suspicious devices at the Florida hotel and casino

Greek authorities say two people have died overnight in a large wildfire burning through forestland above a seaside resort in southern Greece

More than 90,000 residents in a county east of Atlanta have been told to keep sheltering in place a day after a chemical plant fire sent a massive plume of dark smoke high into the sky that could been seen for miles

Authorities rushed to airlift supplies and restore communications and roads in flooded Asheville, North Carolina, on Sunday as residents along the storm-battered Florida coast gathered for church services amid the wreckage of Hurricane Helene.

Some residents east of Atlanta were evacuated and others told to shelter in place after a fire at a chemical plant

Bihar government has sounded an alert for floods in northern, southern and central parts of the state following heavy discharge of water from Birpur and Valmikinagar barrages on Sunday, officials said. The embankment of the Bagmati river in Madhkaul village in Sitamarhi district broke on Sunday, which is being repaired, they said. «Due to this incident, villagers have been evacuated to safer places and the repair work is on...No casualty has been reported so far,» Richie Pandey, District Magistrate (DM), Sitamathi, told reporters. Due to heavy discharge of water from Birpur barrage, seepage was also reported from the Kosi Eastern embankment near Gopalpur on Saturday night, which was repaired by the engineers of the Water Resources Department (WRD).

Hurricane Helene caused dozens of deaths and billions of dollars of destruction across a wide swath of the southeastern U.S., leaving more than three million customers without any power and, for some, a continued threat of floods.