Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 30 miles from the center of the storm.
A landfall near Fort Myers, about 95 miles south, could cause $70 billion in losses, Jefferies Financial Group stock analyst Yaron Kinar said.
Walt Disney World and all the major Orlando-area theme parks are closing ahead of Hurricane Milton's projected landfall in Central Florida.
Officials suspended toll collections and allowed motorists to drive on the shoulder of local highways to ease the massive evacuation effort.
Tampa could experience 15 feet of water as a storm surge combines with high tides.
Milton, which is forecast to batter Mexico's Yucatan peninsula as it churns eastward, rapidly intensified to the highest category on a scale of five, triggering evacuation orders and warnings of savage conditions on Florida's west coast.
The storm is classified as a Category 5 hurricane, the strongest on the scale.
The storm jumped from a Category 2 storm to a Category 5 storm on Monday morning.
The storm went from a Category 2 hurricane to a Category 4 hurricane on Monday morning.
Maximum sustained winds have increased to 120 MPH as the storm heads to Florida's Gulf Coast.
The storm is forecast to make landfall in the Tampa Bay area on Wednesday, then cut across the Sunshine State to the Atlantic Ocean.
Less than ten days after Hurricane Helene struck Florida, the state is preparing for another possible severe impact from a hurricane
It is one of several new plates that were approved by lawmakers.
The storm began as a hurricane, the strongest on record to hit Florida's Big Bend, and then moved north into Georgia and the Carolinas.
After slamming into Florida on Thursday, the storm surged into the Southeast
The storm surge from Hurricane Helene was the highest on record and made many roads impassable.
It made landfall in Florida Thursday evening as a Category 4 storm with winds of up to 140 mph.
It is expected to slam into the state's Big Bend region late Thursday as a 'major hurricane'
Florida could get hit with an 18-foot storm surge and 15 inches of rain.
'This could be the storm that the 2024 hurricane season is remembered for,' AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter told USA Today.
Ryan Wesley Routh allegedly wrote a note that implicated himself and offered a $150,000 bounty in the event he failed.
Donald Trump was reported to be safe after an apparent assassination attempt on Sunday afternoon