TAMPA, Fla. — As Hurricane Ian continues in its path toward Florida, MacDill Air Force Base has issued an installation-wide mandatory evacuation for Tuesday afternoon for certain individuals.
MacDill AFB Commander Col. Adam Bingham issued the evacuation for "non-mission essential individuals" to be completed by noon Tuesday. The group includes uniformed service members, their families, and civilian employees and their families assigned to the Tampa-based military base living in Hillsborough County evacuation Zone A.
"To ensure mission-essential personnel are available for base preparations, military members and base civilian employees must receive approval for departure from their chain of command via supervisory channels," leaders at MacDill AFB explained in a news release. "Unit commanders will release non-mission essential personnel today as soon as possible."
Military members, dependents and base civilian employees living in Hillsborough County evacuation Zone B will be authorized travel reimbursement. But no mandated evacuation has been set at this time.
The military base says it's in contact with all surrounding counties and will update the evacuation orders as needed.
"These are always difficult decisions given the uncertainty of the path and severity of the storm, but the safety of our personnel and families is paramount," Bingham said in a statement.
The storm is expected to become a major hurricane — Category 3 or higher — in the Gulf of Mexico by the middle of the week, which intensifies the risk of dangerous storm surge, hurricane-force winds and heavy rainfall flooding, according to the National Hurricane Center.
People along the west coast of Florida and into the Florida Panhandle are urged to monitor the latest forecast and be ready to act on their hurricane plan should evacuations be ordered.
Click here for three things to keep in mind for gas prices ahead of Hurricane Ian. Also, read more about ways to prepare your home for a possible disaster.