Conspiracy theory targets Tampa ahead of Hurricane Milton
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Hurricane Milton is part of Tampa’s plan to become a “15-minute city.”
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A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration official told PolitiFact that human weather modification did not cause Hurricane Milton.
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The “15-minute city” is an urban planning concept for designing cities to let residents meet basic needs with a short walk or bike ride from their homes. It has been the target of conspiracy theories about other disasters, including the 2023 Hawaii wildfires.
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Tampa officials are working to address the city’s transportation problems, including reducing commute times, but this is unconnected to the hurricane.
As Hurricane Milton moved toward Florida’s west coast, some social media users claimed the hurricane is part of a conspiracy to turn Tampa, Florida, into a “15-minute city.”
An Oct. 7 Instagram video showed Google search results about Tampa becoming a 15-minute city. Text on the video read, “Let’s go down the Hurricane Milton rabbit hole…. Tampa hurricane?? Oh wait they want a 15 minute city like Hawaii????”
This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)
(Screengrab from Instagram)
Hurricane Milton was not orchestrated as part of a scheme to overhaul Tampa.
PolitiFact has debunked multiple false claims that Hurricane Helene, which tore through the Southeast on Sept. 26, and Hurricane Milton were artificially created or engineered through weather modification.
Monica Allen, public affairs director for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Research division, told PolitiFact on Oct. 8, “NOAA confirms that there are no weather modification activities that could have resulted in Hurricane Helene or Hurricane Milton. Hurricanes form on their own given the right conditions and that was the case with Helene and Milton.”
Additionally, these hurricanes have nothing to do with the 15-minute city, an urban planning concept that cities should be designed so residents can meet their basic needs with a short walk or bike ride from their homes.
This is not the first time we’ve seen online conspiracy theorists connect natural disasters to the 15-minute city concept. After the Maui, Hawaii, wildfires in August 2023, PolitiFact fact-checked false claims that the fires were intentionally set to turn Maui into a 15-minute city.
The Google search results in the Instagram video showed an April 2023 Tallahassee Democrat opinion article supporting the 15-minute city concept in Florida and a February LinkedIn post talking about urban growth in the Tampa Bay area.
Tampa officials have taken steps to address transportation problems. In 2023, after years of conducting surveys and gathering community feedback, Mayor Jane Castor launched a $2 billion, 30-year strategic plan called Tampa MOVES, which stands for Mobility, Opportunity, Vision, Equity and Safety. The plan aims for Tampa by 2050 to have increased public transit ridership, shorter commute times, lower transportation costs and no roadway deaths or injuries.
In 2021, the plan estimated Tampa residents had an average commute time of 25 minutes. The goal is to reduce that commute time to 15 minutes or less by 2050. PolitiFact contacted Tampa city officials for comment, but did not hear back before publication.
There is no evidence that Hurricane Milton is part of Tampa’s plan to become a “15-minute city.” We rate this claim False.
Instagram post (archived version), Oct. 7, 2024
PolitiFact, “Hurricane Helene was not a product of weather modification. That’s Pants on Fire!,” Sept. 27, 2024
PolitiFact, “Hurricane Helene was not artificially created, despite what Alexa says,” Oct. 8, 2024
PolitiFact, “Hurricane Milton article came from fictional wiki page; it’s not evidence of storm planning,” Oct. 8, 2024
PolitiFact, “Hurricane Helene wasn’t ‘orchestrated’ to seize land for lithium mining in North Carolina,” Oct. 8, 2024
PolitiFact, “Claim twists U.N. resolution, smart city concept and the Ohio train derailment into baseless plot,” Feb. 24, 2023
PolitiFact, “No, the World Economic Forum did not say the Maui wildfires were orchestrated,” Aug. 22, 2023
PolitiFact, “No, Hawaii fires weren’t set intentionally to turn Maui into a ‘smart island’,” Aug. 14, 2023
TED Talk, “Carlos Moreno: The 15-minute city,” October 2020
The New York Times, “The 15-Minute City: Where Urban Planning Meets Conspiracy Theories,” March 1, 2023
Tallahassee Democrat, “Why Florida needs to promote, encourage 15-minute city concepts,” April 16, 2023
LinkedIn, “The RISE OF TAMPA’S Newest Sensation (“the 15 minute city”, walkability, health, mixed-use),” Feb. 9, 2024
Tampa Bay Times, “Getting around Tampa isn’t easy. Will this big plan change that?,” July 17, 2023
City of Tampa, “Tampa MOVES: Citywide Mobility Plan,” July 2023
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