Hurricane Milton is expected to return to Category 5 status today as it hurtles through the Gulf of Mexico towards Florida’s west coast.
The current Category 4 tropical storm is set to make landfall in Tampa around Wednesday evening – but its outer rings will be wreaking a trail of destruction across much of the state through Tuesday.
Bringing 155mph winds and storm surges of up to 15 feet to major cities including Tampa, Orlando, and Fort Myers, experts have warned Milton is expected to be even more destructive than Hurricane Helene.
Helene struck some of the same areas last month and killed 230 people.
As Hurricane Milton closes in on Florida, millions of people who were placed under mandatory evacuation orders are attempting to flee, causing travel mayhem and gridlock on the roads.
It is now too dangerous to fly from Tampa International Airport, which closed indefinitely at 9am on Tuesday.
Follow DailyMail.com’s live coverage of the storm as it closes in on the US mainland.