Hurricane Milton has rapidly strengthened into a Category 5 storm as it moved across the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, on a path towards Florida.
It threatened to bring a dangerous storm surge to Florida’s Tampa Bay, as it set the stage for potential mass evacuations less than two weeks after a catastrophic Hurricane Helene swamped the coastline.
The centre of Hurricane Milton could come ashore on Wednesday in the Tampa Bay region, which has not endured a direct hit by a major hurricane in more than a century.
Scientists expect the system to weaken slightly before landfall, though it could retain hurricane strength as it churns across central Florida toward the Atlantic Ocean.
That would largely spare other states ravaged by Helene, which killed at least 230 people on its path from Florida to the Appalachian Mountains.
"This is the real deal here with Milton," Tampa Mayor Jane Castor told a news conference. "If you want to take on Mother Nature, she wins 100 per cent of the time."
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on Monday that it was imperative that debris from Helene be cleared ahead of Milton's arrival so the pieces would not become projectiles.
As evacuation orders were issued, forecasters warned of a possible eight to 12-foot storm surge (2.4 to 3.6m) in Tampa Bay and widespread flooding from five to 10 inches (13 to 25cm) of rain in mainland Florida and the Keys. As much as 15 inches (38cm) could fall in places.
The Tampa metro area has a population of more than 3.3 million people.
"It's a huge population. It's very exposed, very inexperienced, and that's a losing proposition," Massachusetts Institute of Technology meteorology professor Kerry Emanuel said. "I always thought Tampa would be the city to worry about most."
Much of Florida's west coast was under hurricane and storm surge watches. A hurricane warning was issued for parts of Mexico's Yucatan state, which was forecast to get sideswiped.
Milton intensified quickly Monday over the eastern Gulf of Mexico. It had maximum sustained winds of 175 mph (282 kph), the National Hurricane Center said. The storm's centre was about 700 miles (1,126 kilometers) southwest of Tampa at midday, moving east-southeast at 9mph (15 kph).
The Tampa Bay area is still rebounding from Helene and its powerful surge. Twelve people died there, with the worst damage along a string of barrier islands from St Petersburg to Clearwater.
In the race to clear away the aftermath from Helene, more than 300 vehicles gathered debris Sunday but encountered a locked landfill gate when they tried to drop it off. State troopers used a rope tied to a pickup truck and busted it open, Mr DeSantis said.
"We don't have time for bureaucracy and red tape," Mr DeSantis said. “It's going to be flying missiles.”
Lifeguards in Pinellas County, on the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay, removed beach chairs and other items that could take flight in strong winds. Elsewhere, stoves, chairs, refrigerators and kitchen tables waited in heaps to be picked up.
Hillsborough County, home to Tampa, ordered evacuations for areas adjacent to Tampa Bay and for all mobile and manufactured homes by Tuesday night.
President Biden approved an emergency declaration for Florida, and US Representative Kathy Castor said 7,000 federal workers were mobilised to help out in one of the largest mobilizations of federal personnel in history.
Milton's approach has stirred memories of 2017's Hurricane Irma, when about seven million people were urged to evacuate Florida in an exodus that jammed freeways and clogged gas stations.
By Monday morning, some gas stations in the Fort Myers and Tampa areas had already run out of gas. Fuel continued to arrive in Florida, and the state had amassed hundreds of thousands of gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel, with much more on the way, Mr DeSantis said.
A steady stream of vehicles headed north toward the Florida Panhandle on Interstate 75, the main highway on the west side of the peninsula, as residents heeded evacuation orders. Traffic clogged the southbound lanes of the highway for miles as other residents headed for the relative safety of Fort Lauderdale and Miami on the other side of the state.
All road tolls were suspended in west-central Florida. State transportation officials allowed motorists to use the left shoulders of northbound Interstate 75 and eastbound Interstate 4 as they evacuated.
