Northbound roadways crowd as Irma nears Florida

WESLEY CHAPEL (FOX 13) - The governor said 25,000 people have evacuated the Florida Keys so far.

People in low-lying areas of Miami-Dade County have also left and mandatory evacuations are expected in other counties, as the storm draws closer.

All those cars are hitting the roads and heading north.

Drivers pulling off the highway in Wesley Chapel packed their cars and RVs into parking lots and even on the grass.

Whether they were from south Florida or the west coast, they told us with a storm this big, they'd rather be safe than sorry.

“We are going to basically run as far and fast as we can,” David Droganici, of Naples, said.

“I get the feeling everybody is sort of evacuating and I don't know where they are going but they are going,” May Beth Bajis, of Cape Coral, said.

The impending arrival of Hurricane Irma is enough to make thousands of Floridians look for the nearest exit to the north.

“To get out of Punta Gorda as soon as we possibly could because we knew 75 was going to be a parking lot,” Martin Boss said. “It took us 3 hours to go 110 miles we are not really exactly tearing up the ground here.”

This is what I-75 at Bloomingdale looked like from the SkyFOX Wednesday.

A photo sent to us by a trucker on the Florida Turnpike near Kissimmee shows traffic was at a standstill.

The only wheels moving were those underneath that man's skateboard, as he stood in the road.

The only active mandatory evacuation orders Wednesday night were for Monroe County and parts of Broward County.

There were no evacuation orders for any Tampa Bay area counties. But some drivers on the west coast would rather just avoid the storm altogether.

Governor Rick Scott has suspended all tolls on Florida roads, for the duration of the storm.

AAA advises anyone who's planning to make the long trip to top off their gas tanks before leaving home. And, of course, expect heavy traffic.