The Pinellas sheriff is vowing to shut down businesses that don’t follow evacuation orders ahead of Hurricane Milton

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Pinellas County sheriff warned bars, restaurants and other businesses to follow evacuation orders or risk closure.

As of Sunday, Pinellas County ordered the evacuation of all long-term care facilities, assisted living facilities and hospitals in Zones A, B and C. Meanwhile, many residents spent the day stocking up on food and supplies in preparation for Hurricane Milton.

“I have lived here my whole life. I’m 29 now. It’s scared me enough,” said resident Hope Swaim. “We definitely put out sandbags. This is the first time we’ve done this. Everyone we know who is usually like we ride them out is walking away.”

So far, six hospitals, 25 nursing homes and 44 assisted living facilities have been evacuated, with a total of around 6,600 patients evacuated.

READ: Hurricane Milton is rapidly gaining strength and is expected to hit Florida as a major hurricane

“We have time on our side. We have a few days to prepare,” said St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch. “We have resources in terms of safe places for people, in terms of shelter, and we have the knowledge. We know where the increase will lead. Based on this, we have set up the evacuation zones. They must listen and respond to the evacuation call.

Before Hurricane Milton, stores across the Bay Area ran out of bottled water.

As for preparations, the shelves at a Publix in St. Pete were already empty of bottled water.

By Sunday afternoon, places like Home Depot and Lowe’s were already out of sandbags and tarps as people stocked up to protect their homes.

READ: Sandbag sites are opening across the Bay Area in preparation for Hurricane Milton

“Today we finish bringing all these sandbags here, then we go back to the crib and set everything up, put a tarp on it and get everything out of the garage. Everything in the lower areas will be brought upstairs,” resident Marco Williams said.

Bay Area residents stocked up on supplies at hardware stores ahead of Hurricane Milton.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri issued an urgent warning to all open businesses and bars that are in mandatory evacuation zones.

“Mandatory eviction orders have been issued in the past and bars remain open. “We haven’t had the tragedy we had a week and a half ago,” Gualtieri said.

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