Tracking Hurricane Milton: Millions told to evacuate from worst storm ‘in 100 years to hit Florida’

U.S. forecasters are warning of destructive waves, devastating winds and flash flooding through the week as Hurricane Milton makes its way from the Yucatan Peninsula towards Florida.
Milton is expected to grow in size and reach the west coast of Florida on Wednesday as a Category 3 storm, with wind speeds between 180-210 km/h.
“This is an extremely life-threatening situation,” reads the U.S. National Hurricane Center’s Tuesday morning advisory.
Follow along for live updates throughout the day.
Hurricanes often start as tropical waves that combine with warm ocean waters, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They may also be fueled by thunderstorms. The weather system moves west as warm ocean air rises into it, and that creates a low pressure area underneath it, NOAA said. Air rises and cools, and that forms clouds and thunderstorms.
Hurricanes have maximum sustained winds — the highest one-minute average wind speed at a particular point in time — of 74 mph (120 km/h) or higher. If a tropical cyclone has maximum sustained winds between 39 and 73 mph (63 km/h to 120 km/h), it’s called a tropical storm. If maximum sustained winds are less than 39 mph (63 km/h), it’s called a tropical depression.
Hurricanes typically occur during hurricane season, which in the Atlantic basin occurs each year from June 1 to Nov. 30.
Patrick Whittle from the Associated Press
A person takes photos at the harbor amid rain as Hurricane Milton passes near Progreso, Yucatan state, Mexico, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (Martin Zetina / AP Photo)
Universal Resort is making operational changes ahead of Hurricane Milton’s arrival.
On Wednesday, Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure and Universal CityWalk will remain open until 2 p.m. local time and stay closed on Thursday. Universal Volcano Bay will be closed on both days with Halloween Horror Nights cancelled for Wednesday and Thursday. The hotels will remain operational.
The resort is anticipating a full reopening on Friday pending the outcome of the storm.
Similarly, SeaWorld Orlando issued a statement saying the park will be closed on Wednesday and Thursday in hopes of reopening on Friday. 
A plane carrying four passengers crashed into Tampa Bay on Tuesday when the engine failed after taking off from Albert Whitted Airport in St. Petersburg, a spokesperson for the St. Petersburg Fire Rescue confirmed.
Ashlie Handy said the passengers, all men between 25 and 40, were attempting to flee Hurricane Milton.
Three of the passengers were taken to Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The plane sank near the St. Petersburg Pier after crashing into the bay where the passengers were rescued 500 feet from shore, where they were met by a fire rescue crew and local police.
So far, 11 Florida counties are under mandatory evacuation orders that affect nearly 5.9 million people, according to county-level population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.
In a CNN interview on Monday, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor discussed the risk residents face ahead of Hurricane Milton.
“Right now, the possibility of a direct hit with 10 to 12-foot tidal surge — put that in perspective, Hurricane Helene, which just left the Tampa Bay area a week ago, there was 6-foot storm surge and that was literally devastating to so many in our coastal areas,” Castor said.
In response to a question about residents who’ve chosen to stay during previous hurricanes and may ride out Hurricane Milton, Castor advised against it.
“Helene was a wake-up call, this is literally catastrophic and I can say without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die,” she said.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor speaks on the risks associated with Hurricane Milton during an interview on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024.
Hurricane Milton “could be one of the worst storms in 100 years to hit Florida,” U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday after being briefed by administration officials.
“It’s a matter of life and death. And that’s not hyperbole. It’s a matter of life and death,” he said, calling on locals to evacuate affected areas immediately.
He says he has cancelled his trips to Europe and Africa in order to stay in the country as the storm approaches.
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the federal government’s preparations for Hurricane Milton in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (Evan Vucci / AP Photo)
St. Petersburg’s mayor, Ken Walch, warned residents of the dangers related to construction cranes in the city.
“Due to tower crane height and design, there are four construction sites in the downtown St. Petersburg area… that are susceptible to the anticipated high winds forecast for the approaching hurricane,” Walch said in a Tuesday briefing.
“This means residents near those four construction sites are at risk for those cranes malfunctioning during the storm.”
Since planning for the lowering of cranes takes weeks of preparation, the time frame of the hurricane did not allow operators to make prior adjustments, he added.
The mayor is advising residents to relocate or move to an inner room without windows as the storm passes. 
“I just needed to grab some more ratchet straps to tie some of the patio furniture down to the house,” Florida resident Lenny Cabanero-Harvey told Reuters.
She’s one of many Floridians making trips to the hardware store in an effort to storm-proof their homes and businesses.
“Yesterday, I came here and there was stacks and stacks of plywood, and all of the workers here were just in good spirits trying to just keep everybody really calm,” she said, while standing in a Home Hardware parking lot in Valrico, a satellite community to Tampa.
Shane Slonaker and his brother, Dakota, piled their red pickup truck with sheets of wood.
“It’s kind of scary,” he told Reuters. “A lot of high winds when you don’t really experience normally. Just got to keep going on, you know?”
Residents there have fresh memories of Hurricane Helene, which missed Tampa but caused widespread destruction and loss of life elsewhere in the country when it made landfall two weeks ago. At least 230 people have been reported dead.
While Milton is forecast to slow to a Category 3 hurricane by the time it makes landfall in Florida, it’s expected to be one of the region’s most devastating storms in the last century.
Employees at The Goodz hardware store, remove all the merchandise in advance of Hurricane Milton, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
According to an advisory from the U.S. National Hurricane Center, the government of the Bahamas issued a Tropical Storm Watch in northwestern Bahamas, including Grand Bahama Island, the Abacos and Bimini.
“Residents should prepare for tropical storm conditions, including strong winds and heavy rain, as Milton is expected to pass near the Bahamas from late Wednesday,” Latrae L. Rahming, an official spokesperson for the government of The Bahamas, wrote on X.
Parts of the Bahamas are under a Tropical Storm Watch. (AccuWeather)
Matthew Dominick, an astronaut aboard SpaceX’s Dragon Endeavour, recorded a time-lapse video from the spacecraft’s window while flying over Hurricane Milton.
“That’s frightening,” replied one X user. “We’re locked into our beloved bubble at the mercy of the wills of nature.”
Milton won’t affect weather in Canada, according to the Canadian Hurricane Centre, which released its own modelling Tuesday morning.
The same goes for Hurricane Leslie, which is churning in the Atlantic. That storm is expected to travel northwest until Thursday morning, when it’s forecast to make a sharp right turn and continue northeast until Sunday.
This map shows the forecast paths of hurricanes Milton and Leslie (Source: ECCC)
Milton is now expected to make landfall on the west coast of Florida on Wednesday night, U.S. national forecasters say, rather than Wednesday morning. Despite this, authorities say there likely won’t be enough time to evacuate on Wednesday.
While the storm is expected to drift ashore midway up the coast, it’s too soon to say exactly where it will land. Once it reaches the west coast of Florida, the storm is likely to cross over the peninsula and enter Atlantic waters on Thursday.
Milton’s high winds are forecast to expand as it approaches land, and nearly double in size by the time it makes landfall.
“Damaging winds, life-threatening storm surge, and heavy rainfall will extend well outside the forecast cone,” reads the U.S. National Hurricane Center’s 11 a.m. EDT update.
“Evacuations and other preparations should be completed today. Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida.” 
Travellers should avoid non-essential travel to Florida’s coasts, the Canadian government has warned.
Hurricane Milton could disrupt transportation systems, electricity availability, water and food supply, telecommunications, emergency services and medical care, according to the travel advisory.
The advisory extends from the west coast — from Chokoloskee to the mouth of the Suwanee River, including Tampa Bay – to the area between St. Lucie/Indian River County Line northward to Ponte Vedra Beach, on the east coast.
If you are near the affected areas, be cautious, monitor local news and weather reports, and follow instructions from authorities, reads the advisory. 
This map, produced by Florida’s emergency management division, shows areas expected to be affected by storm surges.
In a news conference Tuesday morning, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis urged people to leave their homes as soon as they can if they are in a disaster zone.
Traffic is expected to be heavy toward relief areas on Tuesday, because “there are only so many places you can go,” he said. He reiterated there are shelter areas available tens of miles away, and that residents don’t need to drive for hours to evade the storm.
Traffic ramped up by 150 per cent above normal on the interstate Monday evening, and similar congestion is expected on Tuesday. At its peak last night, traffic on Interstate 25 averaged around 20 mph (40 km/h), according to the governor.
A view of a stretch of the I-75 where northbound traffic is slowed due to residents trying to evacuate flood zones. (Sources: Google Maps, FL511.com)
Power outages are expected when Milton makes landfall. Residents in affected areas should ensure their devices are charged. Uber is also offering free rides to and from shelters in affected areas with the promocode “MiltonRelief.”
DeSantis said the Helene disaster relief fund, which accepts private donations from individuals and corporations, has raised US$4 million. The fund will remain open to help pay for damage caused by Milton.
“We can rebuild homes, we can rebuild businesses,” he said. “You do have time to get to a shelter, but that time is running out.” 
Tampa International Airport will suspend flights at 9 a.m. EDT Tuesday, staff wrote on social media.
“TPA is not a shelter for people or vehicles,” reads the post. Parking lots will be closed.
Peter O. Knight, Tampa Executive and Plant City airports, all of which are operated by the Hillsborough County authority, will close around the same time.
Orlando International Airport will close at 8 a.m. EDT on Wednesday.
Those closures are expected to affect scheduled flights to and from Canadian airports.
Toronto Pearson said it’s monitoring the situation closely. 
Colorado State University’s Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere has released overnight satellite imagery of Milton moving east. 
Traffic data from Google Maps shows some congestion northbound on Interstate 75 north of Tampa. We saw images of heavy traffic on the highway late Monday as people moved out of flood zones.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said earlier that the state has suspended tolls and opened roadway shoulders to allow for increased volumes.
“You do not need to travel hundreds of miles from home to evacuate safely—every county has pet-friendly shelters, special needs shelters, and other options that are safe from storm surge,” he said in a social media post.
Thirty-thousand hydro workers are being relocated from elsewhere in the U.S. to restore power in the storm’s wake, he added. 
Heavy traffic flows northbound on Interstate-75 as people evacuate the Tampa Bay area ahead of Hurricane Milton’s arrival late Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Ocala, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Milton is expected to make landfall in Florida in the Tampa Bay area, which is home to more than 3 million people.
The state’s emergency management department has ordered evacuations across the west coast. 
Many are still cleaning up from Helene, the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. since Katrina in 2005. At least 230 people have been reported dead. On Florida’s Gulf Coast, it destroyed homes, tore down trees and flooded communities. 
Federal forecasters say “damaging hurricane-force winds and a life-threatening storm surge” are expected across the northern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula on Tuesday.
In its 4 a.m. CDT (5 a.m. EDT) advisory, the National Hurricane Center located the eye of the storm northeast of Progreso, Mexico. 
(Source: NOAA)
With files from The Associated Press