NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, which is on Florida’s Merritt Island, is one of the many places in the state gearing up for Hurricane Milton before it hits this week.
Milton, a Category 5 storm, is expected to make landfall in the Tampa Bay region in the early hours of Thursday morning, with powerful winds and other hazardous conditions likely to occur beforehand.
Staff at the Kennedy Space Center have been told to “maintain regular contact” with supervisors directing on-site and remote work.
The Kennedy Space Center is still open but under a HURCON III status, it said in its most recent update. This classification is used for 48 hours before 50-knot sustained winds (around 58 miles per hour) and triggers the securing of facilities, property and equipment.
In addition, HURCON III status usually means the briefing and deployment of the Ride-Out Team (ROT), a group of between 100 and 120 people who stay at the center for the duration of the storm. Their job is to “keep essential infrastructure operational and perform initial damage assessment.”
Once the storm has passed, they will carry out a windshield survey, making observations from a vehicle, before handing things over to the Damage Assessment and Recovery Team.
A new status, HURCON II, will be used 24 hours before the 50-knot sustained winds. By this point, all securing actions should have been completed, in time for all non-ROT staff to leave and the ROT team to be sheltered.
The final status used is HURCON I, 12 hours before the 50-knot sustained winds.
Kennedy will remain closed, along with all perimeter gates, while ROT remains sheltered at designated locations.
Newsweek has contacted the Kennedy Space Center by email for further comment.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying a weather satellite lifts off at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, June 25. The space center is preparing for Hurricane Milton before it hits the state this week.
Similarly, Florida’s Disney World is also making preparations for Milton, with the company saying on its website: “We are closely monitoring the path of the projected storm, and the safety of our Guests and Cast Members remains our top priority. Looking ahead, we are making adjustments based on the latest weather forecast and some areas with unique environments.”
The resort is currently operating under normal conditions,” although some parts have been closed, with some adjustments made.
These adjustments include the closure of its Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground and its dining and recreation areas, Copper Creek Cabins at Disney‘s Wilderness Lodge, and Treehouse Villas at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, starting Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET.
Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground and the Treehouse Villas are expected to remain closed until Sunday. Copper Creek Cabins are expected to reopen on Friday, October 11.
Florida is still reeling from Hurricane Helene, which made landfall near the city of Perry in the state’s Big Bend region less than two weeks ago.
Helene has killed at least 230 people across six states in the Southeast, according to the Associated Press’s most recent death toll, making it the second-deadliest hurricane to strike the U.S. mainland in the past half-century.
It was surpassed only by Hurricane Katrina, which took at least 1,833 lives in 2005, according to the National Weather Service.
