Tourists will have to evacuate the Florida Keys beginning at sunrise Wednesday due to the danger posed by approaching Hurricane Irma, officials said Tuesday.
“For the Florida Keys, if you were to create the worst-case scenario, that is what we are looking at,” said Monroe County Emergency Operations Center director Martin Senterfitt, CBS News Miami reported.
“We’re emphatically telling people you must evacuate, you cannot afford to stay on an island with a Category 5 hurricane coming at you. Most of this island chain is only three to five feet above sea level. With the surges we’re expecting, this is not the place to be,” he added.
An evacuation order for residents also will be issued, but the time has yet to be determined, CBS reported.
There will be no shelters in Monroe County, where Irma could create waves that could swamp the islands.
“With a Category 5 coming at the Florida Keys, we could be looking at wave heights that would literally put the ocean over the islands. We’re got to remember we’re an island community and islands go under water,” Senterfitt said.
Traffic toward the mainland was already heavy Tuesday afternoon and likely to get much heavier.
“Today is just another prep day,” charter boat captain Johnny Maddox told CBS. “I started yesterday morning on the prep.”
Maddox was there for Hurricane Wilma in 2005 and remembers the huge storm surge.
“If you’re not in a Category 5 building, you need to get out of town. Just leave. Take your belongings and your insurance papers, get your pets, get your meds and all that kind of stuff and head to the mainland,” he said.