Key Points
- Hurricane Milton is approaching Florida’s Gulf Coast, with authorities warning of a deadly storm surge.
- Residents are being urged to heed evacuation orders, with those in Tampa told they would likely not survive.
- At least five tornadoes had touched down in south Florida by early afternoon, according to the NWS.
Millions of people along a stretch of more than 483 kilometre of coastline were under evacuation orders, just two weeks after Hurricane Helene cut a swath of devastation.
This GOES-16 GeoColor satellite image shows Hurricane Milton in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida, USA. Source: AAP / National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Authorities issued increasingly dire warnings on Wednesday as landfall, expected at about midnight, drew closer.
‘Get out of town’
Michael Tylenda, who was visiting his son in Tampa, said he was heeding the advice from officials to evacuate.
The storm was on a collision course to hit the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, home to more than three million people.
It slightly weakened on Wednesday morning to a category four, the second-highest level, but remained “an extremely dangerous major hurricane” with maximum sustained winds of 233 kilometres per hour, the National Hurricane Centre said.
‘This one seems different’
Most causeways connecting the Gulf barrier islands to the mainland were also shut, stranding any who decided to ride out the storm despite pleas from officials.
Jim Naginey, a 61-year-old homeless man who has lived there for nearly three decades, said he survived previous hurricanes on the streets. But he decided to seek shelter during Milton, joining scores of others in Colonial High School, where families huddled on the gym floor.
Milton became the third-fastest intensifying storm on record in the Atlantic, growing from a Category 1 to a Category 5 in less than 24 hours.
