Hurricane Milton live: ‘Last chance’ to flee with deaths ‘unavoidable’ --[Reported by Umva mag]

It's expected to be the most powerful storm in a century.

Oct 9, 2024 - 21:18

Hurricane Milton live: ‘Last chance’ to flee with deaths ‘unavoidable’ --[Reported by Umva mag]

A man watches his car engulfed in flames along an interstate highway packed with cars and lorries. — A burning car held up traffic evacuating people from Florida to its northern neighbour Georgia (Picture: Erik S. Lesser/EPA)

Time is running out to flee Hurricane Milton, which is due to hit Florida in the coming hours.

Described by President Joe Biden as likely the ‘storm of the century’, it’s expected to make landfall around 3am UK time.

It has just been downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane after its rapid rise to a Category 5 storm with windspeeds around 175mph.

But people are certain to die when it sweeps the low-lying western coast of Florida, where debris still lies from Hurricane Helene two weeks ago.

President Biden said: ‘Winds will be fierce, at well over 100mph with storm surges reaching up to 15ft, and up to 18 inches of rain.

‘It’s looking like the storm of the century.’

More than a million people are fleeing affected regions of the state, which has been battered by hurricane-caused tornadoes hundreds of miles south of its path.

‘There will be fatalities, I don’t think there’s anyway around that’, Florida Governor Ron De Santis warned.

Local authorities have been bussing people away from Tampa and surrounding communities in Pascoe county, but those evacuation efforts are ending.

‘This is your last chance if you need to get to a shelter’, they said in a statement.

‘After that, you’ll need to find a way to the shelter or be prepared to ride out the storm.’

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