Hurricane Milton: Florida braces for storm's landfall with huge evacuation under way

Florida is bracing for the landfall of category four Hurricane Milton, as officials have pleaded with residents to follow evacuation orders.

Given the potential destruction of the storm, President Joe Biden postponed an upcoming trip to Germany and Angola in order to oversee preparations for the storm - in addition to the ongoing response to Hurricane Helene.

"This could be the worst storm to hit Florida in over a century, and God-willing it won't be, but it's looking like that right now," Mr Biden said.

He added: "I just don't think I can be out of the country at this time."

Hurricane Milton: What we know so far

Florida governor Ron De Santis said: "Now is the time to execute your plan ... but that time is running out."

He added the entire Florida peninsula was under "some type of watch of warning" after declaring a state of emergency for areas affected.

Evacuation orders are in place for over one million people in Florida's west-coast counties.

Mr De Santis added the state would activate 8,000 National Guard members and have truckloads of supplies and equipment ready in response.

Sarasota Mayor Liz Alpert told Sky News' US partner network NBC News: "You have to evacuate, it [Hurricane Milton] is not survivable."

Such is the power of Hurricane Milton that, despite weakening slightly, it could land a once-in-a-century hit on Tampa and St Petersburg, engulfing the populous regions with possibly deadly storm surges.

"This is the real deal here with Milton," Tampa mayor Jane Castor told a Monday news conference. "If you want to take on Mother Nature, she wins 100% of the time."

In an interview with CNN on Monday, Ms Castor was even more blunt.

She told the US outlet: "I can say without any dramatisation whatsoever: if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you're going to die."

Pasco County is located on Florida's west coast. Its director of emergency management Andrew Fossa echoed the warnings from other officials.

He said: "I hate to say it like this - Pasco County's going to get a black eye from this one.

"We haven't seen a storm like this in a lifetime. We're running out of time."

Amid the warnings from state officials, federal authorities are readying their response to the hurricane.

White House spokesperson Emilie Simons said the Biden administration has established two staging bases stocked with 20 million meals and 40 million litres of water and has nearly 900 staff members in the region.

Roads clogged in face of 12ft storm surges

The hurricane is expected to come close to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula en route to striking Florida's densely populated coast late on Wednesday or early Thursday.

Once there, forecasters warned the storm could bring eight to 12ft (2.4-3.6m) storm surges, leading to further possible evacuation orders being issued along the Gulf Coast.

A stream of vehicles headed north on Interstate 75, the main road on the west side of the peninsula, as residents followed evacuation orders.

Meanwhile, traffic clogged up the southbound lanes of the road for miles as others headed for the relative safety of Fort Lauderdale and Miami on the other side of the state.

Air travel fared no better as by Tuesday afternoon, almost 700 flights had been cancelled, with that figure expected to rise as more than 1,500 flights scheduled for Wednesday were also cancelled, according to flight tracking data provider FlightAware.

Several airports have said they are pausing operations ahead of the hurricane's landfall, as Orlando International Airport, one of the busiest in the US, said it would close on Wednesday morning, while Tampa International said it was closed on Tuesday.

Florida's Department of Corrections said it had evacuated 4,636 inmates, while the National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned if people didn't evacuate on Tuesday "there will likely not be enough time to wait to leave on Wednesday."

Meanwhile, energy companies in Florida began shutting down their pipelines and fuel-delivery terminals ahead of landfall.

Even some of Florida's world-famous tourist attractions weren't immune from the hurricane, with both Disney World and Universal Orlando set to close - with others following suit.

200mph gusts

The storm took experts by surprise in how quickly it intensified.

In less than two days, Hurricane Milton went from just forming a tropical storm with winds of 40mph to a chart-busting Category five hurricane - before getting even stronger with gusts said to be over 200mph.

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After weakening back to a Category four hurricane, the NHC said on Tuesday that Hurricane Milton had rebounded in intensity, just shy of a Category five hurricane once more, and was forecast to remain "extremely dangerous" until landfall.

The huge storm comes less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene claimed over 200 lives, and left debris littered across the state - which Ms Castor said she fears Hurricane Milton could use "as a weapon" and turn into projectiles.

Veteran hurricane scientists have called the US storm season so far one of the weirdest of their lives as it staggered through a recent quiet period before exploding into action with five hurricanes popping up between 26 September and 6 October.

(c) Sky News 2024: Hurricane Milton: Florida braces for storm's landfall with huge evacuation under way