Florida
Hurricane Milton to double in size as ‘storm of the century’ threatens Florida
The category 5 Hurricane Milton is expected to double its wind field by the time it makes landfall in the US late Wednesday or early Thursday, with up to 15ft (4.5 metres) of storm surge along a low-lying stretch of the Florida coast that includes the cities of Tampa, St Petersburg and Sarasota.
Described as the “storm of a century”, with sustained winds still registering at 160mph (257km/h), Milton turned north-east overnight about 300 miles (480km) south-west of Tampa, aiming for heavily populated and highly vulnerable communities. It is expected to weaken slightly when it makes landfall to a category 4 with sustained wind speeds of about 130mph.
“Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida,” the National Hurricane Center warned.
In an 8am update, the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, said it was not clear exactly where the eye of the storm would come ashore but the impact would be “broader than that … absolutely every place on the west coast of Florida could get major storm surge.”
DeSantis later said 8,000 national guard members would be activated and he had spoken with Joe Biden about Florida’s needs. “Everything that we’ve asked for, the administration has approved,” he said.
“If you are in a single storey home that is hit by a 15ft storm surge, which means that water comes in immediately, there’s nowhere to go,” said the mayor of Tampa, Jane Castor.
“So if you’re in it, basically that’s the coffin that you’re in.”
Deanne Criswell, the director of Fema, said at a news conference that she would travel to Florida on Wednesday – and would send more agency personnel to the state. “I want the people to hear it from me directly: Fema is ready.”
Authorities have issued mandatory evacuation orders across 11 Florida counties with a combined population of about 5.9 million people and said anyone choosing to stay behind must fend for themselves.
Before Helene hit, residents staying behind were encouraged to write their name and social security numbers on their bodies for easier postmortem identification.
Under current projections, the surge is expected to hit Fort Myers Beach, an area still recovering from Hurricane Ian two years ago that smashed a causeway to outlying islands.
The area was also hit by Hurricane Helene two weeks ago, raising concerns that discarded furniture, appliances and debris from that storm will become projectiles in this next one. DeSantis said the state deployed more than 300 dump trucks that had removed 1,300 loads of debris.
One resident said he had seen bull sharks swimming in the flooded streets after Helene.
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No matter exactly where Milton comes ashore, the damage is expected to be extensive, with seawater funneling up through coastal channels inland. Cody Fritz at the US National Hurricane Center storm surge team told NBC News: “Florida’s west coast is very sensitive to storm surge. It doesn’t take much to push water over land that would be dry. It’s extremely vulnerable.”
Kara Doran, a US geological survey scientist, said the risk of permanent change to the coastline “cannot be overstated as I believe communities are more vulnerable to this storm’s impacts due to the erosion that occurred recently from Helene”.
Residents trying to leave have been faced with gas shortages and gridlocked roads. There are few hotels to shelter in and no flights out of the area. Ashley Khrais, a resident of Holiday, Florida, just inland from the coast, told NBC: “it seems very, very scary, but there’s no way to leave.”
Mark Prompakdee, 71, a resident of a trailer park near St Petersburg, said he planned to sit the storm out in a minivan parked on higher ground at a high school. “They’re saying, ‘Get out of here,’” he said. “Where?”
But many people appeared to have heeded the warnings. “If there’s any good news here, we toured Fort Myers beach yesterday [and] it looks like people have listened to those warnings,” said Jay Gray of NBC News.
Efforts to protect property with sandbags and by boarding up windows had been done “with the knowledge that this could be the most powerful storm many in this area have ever seen, and they’ve seen plenty”, Gray said.
The National Weather Service warned that as Milton began moving onshore on Wednesday “conditions will be favorable for tornado development, even far away from the expected landfall”.
With area airports now closed, operators said they would not reopen until damage had been assessed. A spokesperson for Tampa international airport told Scripps News that safety was critical for their operations and it could not act as a shelter for travelers stuck there since it is located in an evacuation zone.
Florida
Tallahassee gas prices rise due to Iran war; how to find cheapest pump prices
If you’re kicking yourself for not filling up your vehicle over the weekend or earlier this week, you have good reason.
Gas prices have been going up steadily — sometimes sharply — since the U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran started Saturday, Feb. 28.
In Tallahassee, prices have jumped 26 cents from last week with an average gallon of gas currently sitting at $3.08, according to AAA. The highest price on record in Florida’s capital city was $4.84 a gallon in June 2022.
Since Monday, March 2, Florida gas prices have jumped almost 36 cents for a gallon of regular, according to AAA.
The war is spreading throughout the Middle East and at least six U.S. soldiers have been killed, including one from Florida.
➤ Live updates: Senate won’t check Trump’s war
Here’s what you should know as the war with Iran continues.
Florida not alone in worrying about rising gas prices
Gas prices surge as Iran war closes Strait of Hormuz
Gas prices rise as Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz threatening oil supply and raising fears of global economic fallout.
Gas prices were already rising before the attacks on Iran began Feb. 28. It’s a regular seasonal swing as spring arrives, according to AAA.
➤ Americans fret over gas prices as Iran war widens
Iran has retaliated with missile and drone attacks that have now killed at least six U.S. servicemembers, including one from Florida.
➤ Florida Army Reserve captain killed in Iran war
Analysts said the war will likely drive up prices by an additional 20 to 30 cents per gallon, partly due to supply issues and partly due to global uncertainty.
Here’s a look at gas prices per gallon of regular provided by AAA this week:
- March 5: $3.251
- March 4: $3.19
- March 3: $3.061
Compare to:
- Week ago: $2.983
- Month ago: $2.891
- Year ago: $3.107
What’s average price of gas in Florida?
AAA posted the average price in Florida on March 5 was $3.241, slightly less than the national average of $3.251.
Here’s a comparison of the daily average price of a gallon of regular this week as provided by AAA:
- March 5: $3.241
- March 4: $3.198
- March 3: $3.068
- March 2: $2.883
In comparison:
- Week ago average: $2.940
- Month ago average: $2.882
- Year ago average: $3.084
Will Florida gas prices keep going up?
The national average price of gas is “likely to move toward $3.10 to $3.15 (per gallon) within one to two weeks … and to $3.20 to $3.25 within two to three weeks,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis with GasBuddy, on March 1.
On March 2, DeHaan said he expected gas prices “at average stations” nationally to increase by 10 to 30 cents in the coming week.
President Trump: Oil prices may be high ‘for a little while’
President Donald Trump told reporters March 3 oil prices may be high “for a little while.”
As soon as the war ends, “these prices are going to drop, I believe even lower than before,” Trump said.
In a post on TruthSocial March 3, Trump said: “If necessary, the United States Navy will begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, as soon as possible. No matter what, the United States will ensure the FREE FLOW of ENERGY to the WORLD.”
How can you find the cheapest gas?
Whether you’re traveling or at home, gasbuddy.com offers information to find the cheapest prices for gasoline.
Enter your state, city or ZIP code to find the Top 10 gas stations and cheap fuel prices.
Cheryl McCloud is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida’s service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at https://palmbeachpost.com/newsletters.
Florida
Florida college Republicans group chat reveals racist texts: ‘Avoid the coloreds like the plague’
It only took three weeks for a group chat for conservative students at Florida International University (FIU) to become a place where participants eagerly used racist slurs, prompting widespread condemnation from community leaders.
Abel Alexander Carvajal, secretary of Miami-Dade county’s Republican party and a student at FIU’s College of Law, reportedly started the chat after the killing of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, in September 2025.
But on Wednesday, the Miami Herald published leaked WhatsApp conversations in which the college Republicans made racist, sexist, antisemitic and homophobic comments, including variations of the N-word used more than 400 times. Knowledge of the chat’s existence was revealed on the same day that Republican lawmakers in Florida pushed forward a bill to rename a one-mile stretch of road alongside FIU in honor of Kirk.
William Bejerano, who the Herald noted once tried to start an anti-abortion group at Miami Dade College, was the most prolific user of the N-word. Using the slur, Bejerano called for dozens of acts of extreme violence against Black people, including crucifying, beheading and dissecting.
Dariel Gonzalez, then the College Republicans’ recruitment chair, who has recently applied to become a GOP committee member, responded to the calls for violence by saying: “How edgy.” He repeatedly used “colored” to describe Black people, including writing: “Ew you had colored professors?!” and “Avoid the coloreds like the plague,” according to the Herald.
Carvajal, who was appointed to a two-year role on the city of Hialeah’s planning and zoning board earlier this year, confirmed to the paper that the group chat was his doing, but he denied knowledge of the problematic comments until the publication contacted him about its logs last week.
“It’s been five months since this was sent and this is the first time I’ve seen this message,” Carvajal told the Herald.
“I guess to an extent, I bear some responsibility, cause I created a chat. But if I had seen this at the moment, I would have removed [Bejerano] from the chat. I probably would have even blocked his number.”
The Herald found that Carvajal had deleted 14 messages sent by other participants in the chat and 42 of his own messages before the publication obtained the chat’s logs.
He also participated in some of the racist discussions. While referring to a Black student who allegedly left FIU’s College Republicans after a member of the group “called her a [N-word]”, the Floridian reported that Carvajal wrote: “Why didn’t miggress leave?” Elsewhere in the chat, the publication reported that Carvajal used “Miggress”, “Migglet” and “Migger” to refer to Black women, Black children and Black people, in general.
At one point, Gonzalez wrote: “You can fuck all the [K-word, a slur for Jewish people] you want. Just don’t marry them and procreate.”
Ian Valdes, the Turning Point USA FIU chapter president, responded, “I would def not marry a Jew,” before changing the group chat’s name from “Uber [R-word slur for disabled people] Yapping” to “Gooning in Agartha”. “Gooning” is a gen-Z slang term for male masturbation, while “Agartha” is a mythical white civilization promoted by Heinrich Himmler, one of the most powerful leaders in Nazi Germany next to Hitler.
Gonzalez reportedly described Agartha to the group chat as “Nazi heaven sort of”.
Kevin Cooper, the first Jewish chair of the Miami Dade Republican party, condemned the group chat in a statement published to X and called for Carvajal’s resignation.
“The majority of our board voted to request Carvajal’s resignation. We have commenced removal proceedings and look forward to resolution from the Republican Party of Florida,” he wrote.
That call was echoed by Juan Porras, a Republican state representative and Miami-Dade GOP state committee member, who said in a statement: “Leadership carries responsibility. When someone in a leadership role engages in this kind of behavior, it damages the trust placed in our party by voters across Florida. For that reason, I am asking the Miami Dade Republican party secretary to step down from this position.”
In a joint statement, Florida Republican state senators Alexis Calatayud, Ileana Garcia and Ana Maria Rodriguez denounced the chats and called for the expulsion from party leadership of its participants.
“The individuals in the group chat have exposed how profoundly misaligned their beliefs are to the views of the Republican party of Florida,” their statement said. “We call for the immediate expulsion of the individuals disseminating from any level of leadership of the Miami-Dade Republican Party … We will not tolerate bigotry or discrimination.”
Multiple leaked group chats from young Republicans have created controversy in recent years.
Last year, Politico published messages from a group chat of more than 100 conservatives across the country in which users also made racist and antisemitic comments. In 2022, a Young Republican group chat from North Dakota was revealed as a cesspool of homophobic and antisemitic rhetoric.
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