Photo : Collected
Storm-battered Florida braced for a direct hit from Hurricane Milton which strengthened back to a Category 5 storm Tuesday, as US President Joe Biden begged residents to flee what he warned could be the worst natural disaster to hit the state in a century.
As the second huge hurricane in as many weeks rumbled toward Florida's west coast, a sense of looming catastrophe spread as people raced to board up homes and flee.
"It's a matter of life and death, and that's not hyperbole," Biden said from the White House, urging those under orders to leave to "evacuate now, now, now."
Biden's warning came amid a bitter pre-election quarrel, with his Democratic vice president Kamala Harris castigating her rival Donald Trump for peddling false claims that recovery efforts after the first storm, Hurricane Helene, were diverted away from Republicans.
As of Tuesday, Milton returned to the maximum Category 5 designation, generating maximum sustained winds of 165 mph (270 kph), the National Hurricane Center said.
"Fluctuations in intensity are likely while Milton moves across the eastern Gulf of Mexico, but Milton is expected to be a dangerous major hurricane when it reaches the west-central coast of Florida Wednesday night," the NHC said.
Governor Ron DeSantis, at a news conference, ticked off town after town and county after county that are in danger.
"Basically the entire peninsula portion of Florida is under some type of either a watch or a warning," he said.
Airlines put on extra flights out of Tampa, Orlando, Fort Myers and Sarasota, as highways clogged up with escaping traffic and gas stations sold out of fuel.
Messenger/Disha
