Hurricane Milton Scuttles High School Sports Schedules Across Sunshine State

As Hurricane Milton churns in the Gulf of Mexico, tracking for a direct hit on Tampa, Fla., the state's high schools are cancelling sporting events for at least the rest of this week. 

According to The Ledger, because of the impending threat of Hurricane Milton, Polk County, just west of Tampa, has cancelled all prep events this week — including high school football on Friday night.

All after-school activities for Monday after 5 p.m. have been canceled and both practices, and classes have been canceled from Tuesday through Thursday. No decision has been made for classes on Friday. For Polk high school sports, competitions are automatically canceled when schools are closed. 

Florida High School Athletics Association executive director Greg Damon released a video message addressing how the association's is handling disruptions from the storm. Damon said that the FHSAA is seeking to provide as much scheduling flexibility as possible and asked that all athletic directors update their schedules on the MaxPrep website. 

"All decisions remain tentative and dependent on post-storm outcomes," Damon said. 

Polk County athletic director Dan Talbot said all football games involving Polk County Public Schools have been postponed. Kathleen at Lake Gibson, a district game, has already been rescheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday. Make-up dates for the remaining games involving Polk public schools have yet to be announced.

Up and down Florida's west coast, cities and counties announced the cancellation of high school sporting events. Tampa, the Treasure Coast, West Palm Beach and Clearwater have all cancelled their events for the week. 

Milton is has undergone one of the fastest rapid intensifications ever observed in the Atlantic. The storm's winds his 180 mph on Monday with gusts up to 200 mph. Milton is expected to make landfall on Thursday somewhere around Tampa Bay as a Category 3 hurricane.