Residents in Florida have been told to evacuate immediately as the state made emergency preparations on Tuesday to brace for the impact of Hurricane Milton which has now strengthened into a Category 5 storm. Floridians clogged highways, blocked major roads and dealt with fuel shortages as the Tampa mayor warned residents, saying “you are going to die,” if they chose to stay behind.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that the storm would retain major hurricane status and increase in ferocity as it approached Florida after passing the Mexican city of Mérida before swerving north towards the US. At 7pm CDT, the eye of the storm was 440 miles south-west of Tampa, moving east/north-east at 10mph, reports the Guardian.
While the storm is forecast to weaken before making landfall, experts say it will double in size wreaking havoc over a larger area.
The NHC warned that Milton has the potential to be “one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida.”
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has stated that the hurricane could be one of the worst storms to hit America for 100 years and advised residents to leave immediately as “a matter of life and death”.
