Crews work to remove a downed tree in the Davis Islands neighborhood of Tampa, Florida on Oct. 10, 2024. Credit: Photo via CityofTampa/Twitter
Many roads across Hillsborough and Pinellas counties remain impassable after Hurricane Milton made landfall overnight as a Category 3 storm.

The City of Tampa hopes to make decisions about coming home a bit easier for residents who evacuated with a new re-entry map activated today.

The map—available via tampa.gov/ReEntryMap—provides “timely updates on the status of the city and to inform residents of any travel restrictions or closures,” according to a press release.

The site will be continuously updated with information regarding the safety of city precincts, restricted access zones and progress of recovery.

“Our safety efforts do not end just because Milton has passed,” Mayor Jane Castor wrote in the release. “The primary focus for our city, right now, is to conduct a swift and efficient damage assessment so we can get everyone back to their homes quickly, and most importantly, to get them home safely.”

A flood map for the City of Tampa is also available via tampa.gov/floodmaps.

The City of Tampa’s re-entry map provides ‘timely updates on the status of the city and to inform residents of any travel restrictions or closures.’ Credit: Screenshot via City of Tampa
A spokesperson for the City of St. Petersburg told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that it is still too early in the recovery process for the city to have a re-entry map.

“Hundreds of crew members have just begun damage assessments. Nearly every traffic light is out and we’re discouraging people from being out and about,” Alizza Punzalan-Randle wrote to CL.

The City of St. Petersburg, however, has resumed operations at its Northeast and Southwest Sewer Treatment Plants which were pre-emptively shut down Wednesday evening.

A boil water notice remains in place in St. Petersburg as crews work on a water main break that stopped service of the city’s potable (drinking) water.

Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.

Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

This article appears in Oct 10-16, 2024.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...