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By Jordan King
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NASA's Kennedy Space Center, located 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.
The space center's staff has been told to "maintain regular contact" with supervisors directing on-site and remote work.
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The 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.
"In addition to prepping facilities, NASA has encouraged personnel to take the time they need to prepare their own homes and families ahead of the storm," a spokesperson for the Kennedy Space Center told Newsweek.
They added: "Emergency response teams, NASA weather officials, and center leadership continue to meet daily to discuss the storm's current path allowing for adequate time for the Ride Out Team to report on site, as well as ensuring the latest updates to the workforce are communicated ahead of the storms anticipated heaviest impacts."
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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 is 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' 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.
Update 10/9/2024, 5:56 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to include comment from the Kennedy Space Center.
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