Milton, which exploded on Monday into one of the most intense Atlantic hurricanes on record, was forecast to make landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday, threatening a stretch of Florida's densely populated west coast that is still reeling from the devastating Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago.
A direct hit on the bay would be the first since 1921, when the now-sprawling Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area was a relative backwater. Today it is home to more than three million people.
430pm CDT Oct 8th -- Observations from the Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters (— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) @53rdWRS) confirm that #Hurricane #Milton is a Category 5 hurricane with max sustained winds of 165 mph. The minimum central pressure was down to 905 mb (26.72 inches).TCU: https://t.co/QFMVE0t85y pic.twitter.com/fYUsyunaGaOctober 8, 2024
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor warned people against riding out the storm, calling Helene a mere wakeup call.
"If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you're going to die," Castor said.
Milton packed maximum sustained winds of 270km/h, the US National Hurricane Center said, putting it at the highest level on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale.
At 7pm on Ruesday, the eye of the storm was 700km southwest of Tampa, moving east-northeast at 17km/h.
The greater size also enlarges the scope of the risk of storm surge to hundreds of kilometres of coastline. The hurricane centre sees surges of 3-4.5m north and south of Tampa Bay, in addition to the ferocious winds and risk of inland flash flooding from intense rainfall.
A car sits half-buried in sand as Bradenton Beach Florida as Hurricane Milton approaches. (AP PHOTO)
Hurricane Helene left the Tampa Bay area more vulnerable when it hit the Gulf Coast's barrier islands and beaches on September 26, sweeping away tons of sand, knocking down dunes and blowing away dune grass, said Isaac Longley, a meteorologist with the commercial forecasting company AccuWeather.
Five-thousand National Guard members have been deployed, with another 3000 on hand for the storm's aftermath, Governor Ron DeSantis said.
President Joe Biden, who postponed an overseas trip to supervise the storm response, urged those under evacuation orders to leave immediately, saying it was a matter of life and death.
Tonight, I spoke with Florida Governor DeSantis and Tampa Mayor Castor for firsthand reports on Hurricane Helene recovery and preparations for Hurricane Milton.— President Biden (@POTUS) My Administration is ready to support both leaders and the people of Florida with any further resources they may need. pic.twitter.com/imXXVXQnoDOctober 8, 2024
More than a dozen coastal counties issued mandatory evacuation orders. Mobile homes, nursing homes and assisted living facilities also faced mandatory evacuation.
Motorists waited to fill their tanks in lines snaking around petrol stations, only to find some were out of fuel. State police provided escorts to fuel trucks replenishing gas stations, DeSantis said.
By early Tuesday, bumper-to-bumper traffic choked roads leading out of Tampa.
About 17 per cent of Florida's nearly 8000 gas stations had run out of fuel by late Tuesday, according to markets tracker GasBuddy.
Fuelled by warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, Milton became the third-fastest intensifying storm on record in the Atlantic.
A man helps his friend's cat evacuate ahead of Hurricane Milton on Anna Maria Island, Florida. (AP PHOTO)
It had weakened to a Category 4 hurricane on Tuesday but regained strength. Milton is forecast to remain an extremely dangerous hurricane after landfall in Florida, causing catastrophic damage and power outages expected to last days.
The storm already caused some havoc in Mexico, but Governor Joaquin Diaz Mena of Yucatan state said much of the damage reported so far had been minor. Thousands of utility customers lost power.
Relief efforts are still under way throughout much of the US Southeast in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which killed more than 200 people across six states and caused billions of dollars in damage.
