Despite last-minute cleanup efforts, Helene's debris piles continue to pose a threat during Hurricane Milton

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Mountains of trash left over from Hurricane Helene still littered the Florida landscape Wednesday as Hurricane Milton barreled toward the Gulf Coast and trash haulers suspended efforts to remove the trash, which could be hazardous in high winds .

With just hours until Milton, a Category 4 storm already churning up “tornadic supercells,” was expected to make landfall somewhere south of Tampa Bay, the garbage trucks that had been working around the clock were mostly gone.

And in Tampa, those unwilling to join the exodus from the city gave a wide berth to the piles of destroyed furniture and other household items.

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“I'm just worried that the wind will blow the stuff up and it will become a projectile,” said Heather McClellan, 34, as she passed a front yard with a pile of furniture that Helene had ruined.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said crews were able to remove a mountain of trash.

“In just over 48 hours, and they worked through the night, in the early hours of the morning in (counties) like Manatee, Sarasota and Pinellas, they were able to remove 55,000 cubic yards of debris.” He said, “So that's over 3,000 truckloads of debris. Loads of debris.”

DeSantis said crews were able to clear at least half of the debris on the most vulnerable barrier islands.

Sarasota County Emergency Management Director Sandra Tapfumaneyi said they did their best.

“Normally you would have months to clear this debris, and you can only do so much in a few days,” she said. “The county, along with its municipalities, tried to deploy workers, curb-to-board teams, to try to get things to the landfill as quickly as possible.”