San Francisco Frontiers - Tampa zoo rushes Chompers the porcupine and others to safety as Milton nears

Orangutans watch the flurry of activity before allowing their keepers to move them to safety, while African elephants are herded gently to the protected areas.

Tiffany Burns, director of animal programs at the zoo, says it has a few hurricane-proof buildings where they will move all the animals -- very carefully.

"We hope that the animals have very minimal stress, that's always our goal," the 41-year-old says.

Florida's west coast is still digging out from the devastation of Hurricane Helene, which roared onshore as a Category 4 storm on September 26, causing widespread devastation.

Now, with the debris from Helene still strewn about, the battered region is bracing for Milton -- a potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm taking aim at Tampa.

Residents are bracing for the worst storm the city has faced in years -- perhaps a century.

The city of roughly 400,000 people, separated from the Gulf of Mexico by Tampa Bay, faces the worst impact from storm surges and flooding.

Burns explained that staff have tried to maintain a positive attitude as they prepare the zoo, but fear the impact of Milton on their own homes.

"It's really hard to see such a big storm coming back toward us so soon," she says.

They are not alone.

- 'Too much' -

Ernst Bontemps boarded up the windows of his medical clinic in the nearby city of St. Petersburg for the second time in two weeks.

"This is too much," sighed the 61-year-old gastroenterologist.

"It's painful because last time we had complete devastation everywhere in St. Petersburg. And here we go again."

The entire Tampa Bay metropolitan area -- which includes the eponymous city, St. Petersburg and Clearwater -- still bears the scars of Helene, which left more than 230 people dead across the southeastern United States.

On Treasure Island, located in the Gulf of Mexico and accessible via a bridge from St. Petersburg, the streets remain littered with debris.

Helene caused flooding in most of the homes and businesses on the island, leading inhabitants to pile up everything damaged by the water in front of their residences, including mattresses, refrigerators, televisions and more.

David Levitsky looked at the pile in front of his own home on the island.

"All this stuff is just wind fodder that's going to just be blowing down the street and hitting who knows what," the 69-year-old retiree said.

Like other Treasure Island residents, Levitsky is trying to protect what little survived Helene before he evacuates.

"Being on the water is a joy, but obviously, with the joy comes a lot of possibilities on the other side of that spectrum," he said.

In St. Petersburg, meanwhile, Bontemps fears that repeat hurricanes are the new normal for this part of Florida.

"I've been here for 22 years and we've never been hit by hurricanes twice in one year," he said.

F.Edwards--SFF