Time to evacuate is running out as Hurricane Milton closes in on Florida

A steady rain fell in the Tampa Bay area Wednesday morning as a mighty Hurricane Milton churned toward a potentially catastrophic collision with the west coast of Florida, where some residents insisted they would stay even after millions were ordered to evacuate. Stragglers face grim odds of surviving, officials said.

A steady rain fell in the Tampa Bay area Wednesday morning as a mighty Hurricane Milton churned toward a potentially catastrophic collision with the west coast of Florida, where some residents insisted they would stay even after millions were ordered to evacuate. Stragglers face grim odds of surviving, officials said.

The Tampa Bay region, home to more than 3.3 million people, hasn't seen a direct hit from a major hurricane in more than a century. Milton fluctuated between categories 4 and 5 as it approached, but regardless of the distinction in wind speeds, the National Hurricane Center said, it would be a major and extremely dangerous storm when its center makes landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday.

“Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida,” the center warned.

The normally busy interstate leading into downtown Tampa was mostly free of vehicles early Wednesday. Few cars moved on side streets. Drivers hoping to top off tanks were hard-pressed to find stations that weren't closed or boarded up. Many had plastic-wrapped their fuel pumps to keep nozzles from whipping around in hurricane-force winds.

In Hillsborough County, where Tampa is located, Sheriff Chad Chronister urged residents in a Facebook video to finalize their plans: “My message is simple. We’re approaching that 11th hour. If you need to get someplace safe for whatever reason, the time to do so is now."

Milton was centered about 250 miles (405 kilometres) southwest of Tampa on Wednesday morning, with maximum sustained winds of 155 km/h (250 kph), just two km/h (three kph) shy of Category 5 status, the hurricane center reported. It was moving northeast at 16 km/h (26 kph) and was expected to continue moving in that direction with an increase in its forward speed through Wednesday night.

Milton targets communities still reeling two weeks after Hurricane Helene flooded streets and homes in western Florida along its devastating march that left at least 230 dead across the South. In many places along the coast, municipalities raced to collect and dispose of debris left by Helene before Milton's winds and storm surge — projected to reach as high as 12 feet (3.6 metres) in Tampa Bay and up to 15 feet (4.5 metres) farther south, between Sarasota and Fort Myers — could toss it around and compound any damage.