Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has said ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall that “if they say get out and it going to hit us like this and they can't predict exactly that storm surge and you are in an evacuation zone, you probably need to write your name in permanent marker on your arm so that people know who you are when they get to you afterwards.”
The warning is one of many from Florida officials urging people in evacuation zones to leave their homes immediately.
Hurricane Milton, which is currently a Category 4 storm, is expected to make landfall on the west coast of Florida later tonight.
"I have urged everyone currently located in Hurricane Milton’s path to listen to local officials and follow safety instructions... if you're under evacuation orders, you should evacuate now," President Biden said yesterday. "It's a matter of life and death – and that is not hyperbole – it is a matter of life and death."
Storm chaser and meteorologist Reed Timmer told 'America's Newsroom' that the downtown Tampa area has turned into a “ghost town” Wednesday as Hurricane Milton is now only hours away from making landfall.
“The wind field is likely going to expand and that storm surge takes a lot of time to subside,” he said about Milton.
“My objective is to get into the eye, we have some new sensors we are going to deploy,” Timmer added. “Our goal is definitely scientific and also to report as the conditions deteriorate across this area.
“Those people that evacuated like to see what is happening in their home after they get out,” he said.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told reporters Wednesday morning that the agency has “moved in over 1,200 search and rescue personnel to be able to support those immediate life safety needs, as well as additional personnel from across the federal government” ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall.
“I will be traveling to Florida later today to join my team and the state on the ground. I'll be there to ensure every Floridian gets the help they need when this storm passes, and to provide timely updates to the president and the vice president,” she said.
“When we just look at the forecast for Hurricane Milton, it is bringing catastrophic winds. It's bringing catastrophic storm surge, increased flooding, and so we know that we are going to have, significant impacts as a result of this storm,” Criswell added.
{{#rendered}}The National Weather Service's Miami Office is reporting that a tornado is crossing Interstate-75 in south Florida as Hurricane Milton approaches the state.
"TORNADO crossing I-75 as we speak! Seek shelter NOW!" it wrote on X.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that 6,000 Florida National Guardsman and 3,000 National Guardsman from other states are being deployed ahead of Hurricane Milton.
“We have 500 tactical vehicles, including 180 high water vehicles, aerial water and ground National Guard search and rescue teams. This is the largest Florida National Guard search and rescue mobilization in the entire history of the state of Florida,” he said.
“Our Florida State Guard is also deploying almost 200 soldiers, ten maritime crews, three high water UTVs, two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, four drone teams, 15 cut and toss crews, two amphibious rescue crews,” he added.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that “we are bracing and are prepared to receive a major hit” from Hurricane Milton, which he says will “arrive either late tonight or early tomorrow morning.
“Hurricane Milton is still a major, very strong hurricane. It's currently a category four hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 155mph. That is just a whisker shy of a category five,” DeSantis said. “And while there is the hope that it will weaken more before landfall, there is high confidence that this hurricane is going to pack a major, major punch and do an awful lot of damage.”
“We've delivered massive amounts of supplies -- meals, water bottles, sandbags, tarps, generators to be able to help our local communities respond to this storm,” DeSantis continued.
“We've also deployed more than 11,000 ft. of flood protection systems and erected them around critical infrastructure like hospitals, wastewater treatment facilities and electric infrastructure,” he added. “Generators have been deployed at shelters and to support sheltering operations. Starlink internet has been deployed across the entire state of Florida. We have surged in additional 600 ambulances and they are currently in operation helping in the effort.”
{{#rendered}}Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister told ‘America’s Newsroom’ on Wednesday that “as the conditions continue to deteriorate, we are approaching the 11th hour here” as Hurricane Milton is racing toward Florida.
“You need to get to where you want to be and where you are going to be able to shelter and do so safely. There is still time to get out if you are in an evacuation zone,” he continued.
“Be prepared that we are going to lose power. We have flooding with all the rain coming and there is nowhere for the water to go,” Chronister added.
The sheriff said debris leftover from the passage of Hurricane Helene could be “weaponized” as a result of Hurricane Milton and “obstruct some of our search and rescue efforts afterwards.”
“We are going to see some catastrophic results,” he warned.
Multiple news conferences are scheduled for this morning ahead of Hurricane Milton's expected landfall in Florida later tonight.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to speak at any moment.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has scheduled a briefing for 10 a.m. ET.
The National Hurricane Center, meanwhile, will provide an update around 11 a.m ET.
Tropicana Field has gotten used to hosting playoff games since Kevin Cash took over as manager of the Tampa Bay Rays, but over the next few days, the stadium will be used as a base camp to support the Florida Department of Emergency Management ahead of Hurricane Milton.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis directed Florida crews that were dispatched to North Carolina to help the state dig out of Hurricane Helene’s aftermath to return to Florida to prepare for Milton’s arrival, which is churning in the Gulf of Mexico as a dangerous Category 4 storm.
Florida emergency officials launched evacuation orders for most of the state’s western coast in preparation for Milton. Many of those same regions were still trying to dig out from Helene.
{{#rendered}}Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis told 'Fox & Friends' on Wednesday that “We have got more resources in the form of urban search and rescue pre-staged in the state of Florida than we have ever had for any natural disaster.
“We have got teams all the way from Washington state to Virginia that are ready to roll as soon as it’s safe to get these brave men and women out into harm’s way to save lives,” he continued.
Patronis also said “I plead with people – check on your elderly, check on your neighbors. Some people are so overwhelmed by the circumstances, especially the elderly, that they are not heeding the warnings.”
“The Tampa Bay market got hit by Helene, they know the stove is hot and they will not take a chance of getting burned a second time,” he added.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor has offered a grim warning to those who don’t follow evacuation orders ahead of Hurricane Milton.
"I’ve said many times that you want to pick a fight with Mother Nature, she’s winning 100 percent of the time," Castor said Tuesday. "And individuals that are in these, say you’re in a single-story home. Twelve feet is above that house. So, if you’re in it, you know, basically that’s the coffin you’re in."
Hurricane Milton has been downgraded for a Category 4 hurricane Wednesday morning as it makes its approach to Florida, according to FOX Weather.
Forecasters say it will likely remain a major hurricane when it makes landfall on Florida's west coast later on Wednesday evening or early Thursday morning.
The massive storm, as of 5 a.m. ET Wednesday, was located about 300 miles southwest from Tampa, Florida.
FOX Weather's Scott Sistek contributed to this report.
As Hurricane Milton approaches west central Florida, highways are filled with evacuees, creating a perfect storm for looters to monopolize on the impending weather event.
"If you think you’re going to go in and loot, you got another thing coming," Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a briefing at the state’s Emergency Operations Center.
"If you go into somebody’s house after the storm passes, think that you’re going to be able to commit crimes, you’re going to get in really serious trouble. And quite frankly, you don’t know what’s behind that door in a Second Amendment state."
Geoff Fahringer, who worked for 50 years in law enforcement and has taught a number of courses centered around emergency preparedness, explained how homeowners can make their properties less attractive to would-be burglars.
He recommends to make it look like someone is home and advertise alarm systems and cameras around the home -- even if you don't actually have an alarm or surveillance system -- among other strategies.
{{#rendered}}A photo has captured hundreds of lineman trucks being staged in The Villages in central Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton’s expected landfall later tonight.
Florida Power & Light – the state’s largest utility – says “our restoration workforce of more than 14,000 men and women from 37 states as far west as California are positioned across Florida to restore power safely and as quickly as possible for our customers.”
“There will be widespread outages,” the company’s president and CEO Armando Pimentel said in a video message recorded at the St. Lucie County Fairgrounds, where trucks also are being gathered.
“Hurricane Milton is expected to be a historic storm and one of the strongest storms to hit our service territory,” he added.
Tampa Electric Company says on its website that “We’ve mobilized more than 5,000 utility workers and growing to assist with electric restoration after the storm.”
Duke Energy, another top utility in Florida, also says its crews “are ready to respond.
The National Hurricane Center warned in a Wednesday morning advisory that “a large area of destructive storm surge, with highest inundations of 10 feet or greater, is expected along a portion of the west-central coast of the Florida Peninsula” when Hurricane Milton makes landfall later tonight.
“If you are in the Storm Surge Warning area, this is an extremely life-threatening situation, and you should evacuate as soon as possible if ordered by local officials,” it added.
The Category 5 hurricane, as of 5 a.m. ET, was centered about 300 miles southwest of Tampa with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph.
“Rainfall amounts of 6 to 12 inches, with localized totals up to 18 inches, are expected across central to northern portions of the Florida Peninsula through Thursday,” the NHC also says. “This rainfall brings the risk of catastrophic and life-threatening flash and urban flooding, along with moderate to major river flooding.”
“Preparations to protect life and property, including being ready for long-duration power outages, should be rushed to completion,” the NHC added.
Storm chaser Mike Boylan of Mike's Weather Page has been following extreme weather since 2020, traveling to six different states to do so.
His latest chase, Hurricane Milton, hits close to his heart as he is a Florida native.
Boylan told Fox News Digital in an on-camera interview, "To me, it’s sad. You get kind of numb to the idea of living here that it can't happen. And Helene was a rude wake-up call. Maybe that really got people fired up in a weird way."
He is currently in the Tampa Bay region, in Oldsmar, and said Hurricane Helene recently devastated the area.
And Milton may be worse.
"I’ve got a debris pile behind me just littered with debris for miles and miles and miles. And it's the same scene up and down all of the Tampa Bay region," he said.
"This is one story of many, of course, that's unfolding. And it's just sad for these folks — they lost everything. Now they're dealing with possibly a higher storm surge," he said.
{{#rendered}}A NASA astronaut shared ominous pictures and a video timelapse of Hurricane Milton from space.
The massive storm has now regained Category 5 strength as it barrels toward Florida.
"We flew over Hurricane Milton about 90 minutes ago. Here is the view out the Dragon Endeavour window. Expect lots of images from this window as this is where I’m sleeping while we wait to undock and return to Earth," Matthew Dominick, a NASA astronaut and U.S. Navy Commander shared in a post on X.
The video, posted on Tuesday morning, shows the spaceship gliding in space over the U.S. with Milton clearly visible.
Millions in Florida are bracing for a potentially catastrophic punch from major Hurricane Milton, which threatens a historically deep and dangerous storm surge to a large swath of Florida’s west coast along with wind gusts well over 100 mph during the next 36 hours.
Milton regained Category 5 strength Tuesday evening, a day after becoming among the strongest hurricanes on record in the Atlantic basin.
The monster storm maintained that strength overnight into Wednesday, and forecasters say it will likely remain a major hurricane when it makes landfall Florida's west coast later on Wednesday evening or early Thursday morning.
"Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida," the NHC said Wednesday morning.
State officials have been scrambling since Monday to get millions off vulnerable coastlines in what is described as the largest mass evacuation in Florida since Hurricane Irma in 2017. Storm surge forecasts along the central western coast are predicting 10–15 feet of water topped with devastating waves driven by hurricane-force winds. Those levels — significantly higher than the damage wrought just last month by Hurricane Helene — would surpass anything seen in over a century in the Tampa Bay area.
Live Coverage begins here