Hurricane Milton: 5.9 million evacuated as ‘once in a century’ storm strengthens again to Category Five
A ferocious Hurricane Milton is fast approaching the coast of Florida, threatening to be one of the worst hurricanes in living memory, as mandatory evacuation orders are issued for 5.9 million people.
Hurricane Milton has again been upgraded to Category Five on Wednesday after being downgraded for only a few hours on Tuesday night.
Sustained winds of 270km/h have been recorded, with gusts stronger than that, by specialist Hurricane Hunter aircraft that fly close to the storm to capture vital data before landfall.
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US President Joe Biden has urged 5.9 million people in the path of the “devastating” storm that the “time to evacuate is now, now, now”.
“It’s a matter of life and death,” he said.
Mr Biden warned the hurricane is shaping up to be the deadliest storm “in a century”.
“God willing it won’t be but that’s what it’s looking like right now,” he said.
Ferocious winds, torrential rain and a feared 4.5-meter storm surge are expected to cause extreme damage across Florida, especially in the towns around Tampa Bay.
Debris remaining from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, a deadly storm that caused devastating destruction and killed over 200 people less than two weeks ago, is feared to become deadly projectiles once picked up by the winds of Milton.
Usually, a hurricane will weaken once it hits land. However, Milton’s extreme strength threatens to bring a more extreme scenario.
Biden said there is a “potential for this storm to both enter Florida as a hurricane and leave Florida as a hurricane on the Atlantic coast.”
Authorities have warned people must listen to the mandatory evacuation orders as they will not be able to send crews in to help civilians in danger.
“We’ve never seen anything like this before, this is the storm of the century,” Police Chief Lee Bercaw told local media.
As millions evacuate, hundreds of international and domestic flights have been cancelled.
Around 1,400 flights have been cancelled in the last 24 hours between Tampa and Orlando.
The 4.5-meter storm surge has been described as “something you see in the movies.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the entire west coast of Florida “could get whacked” by the “serious storm surge.”
“You do not have to get on the interstate and go far away,” Governor DeSantis said at a Tuesday morning news briefing, assuring residents there would be enough gas to fuel their cars for the trip.
“You can evacuate tens of miles; you do not have to evacuate hundreds of miles away. You do have options.”
In Riverview, several drivers waiting in a long line for fuel on Tuesday morning said they had no plans to evacuate.
“I think we’ll just hang, you know, tough it out,” said Martin Oakes, of Apollo Beach.
“We got shutters up; the house is all ready. So this is sort of the last piece of the puzzle.”
Walt Disney World has shut down its Florida theme parks as of Wednesday morning.
Tampa Bay has not been hit directly by a major hurricane since 1921, and authorities fear luck is about to run out.
A time-lapse showing the terrifying size of Hurricane Milton has been shared by NASA after astronaut Matthew Dominick captured images from space.
- With AP
