On Wednesday, US officials begged residents of storm-ravaged Florida to evacuate, warning that a “catastrophic” Hurricane Milton was approaching.
The state may be facing its biggest natural calamity in a century as a result of the Category 5 storm, according to President Joe Biden’s warning.
People scrambled to board up homes and evacuate as the second powerful hurricane in as many weeks roared toward Florida’s west coast.
“It’s a matter of life and death, and that’s not hyperbole,” Biden said from the White House on Tuesday, urging those under orders to leave to “evacuate now, now, now.”
By Wednesday morning (0900 GMT) Milton was located 300 miles (485 km) southwest of Tampa, generating maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (260 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
“Milton remains a catastrophic Category 5 Hurricane,” said the NHC, forecasting the storm to make landfall on the Florida Gulf coast late Wednesday night.
It “is expected to remain an extremely dangerous major hurricane when it reaches the west-central coast of Florida,” it said.
“You are going to die if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas,” Mayor Jane Castor of Tampa warned locals on CNN.
Governor Ron DeSantis listed town after town in risk during a press conference.
“Basically the entire peninsula portion of Florida is under some type of either a watch or a warning,” he stated.
Airlines added more flights from Tampa, Orlando, Fort Myers, and Sarasota as escape traffic jammed the roadways and petrol stations ran out of fuel.
