HURRICANE Milton is set to spawn its own tornadoes as locals have been told their home is a “coffin” ahead of landfall.
The huge storm is set to bring 15ft wave surges that will completely submerge homes in parts of central Florida.
Milton is bearing down on the state with 155mph winds and is set to make landfall in just hours.
The hurricane is now at Category 4 strength after weakening very slightly from 160mph overnight.
It is expected to remain a Category 4 storm as it strikes just south of Tampa at 2am Thursday.
Residents who choose to stay behind have been told by officials to write their name on their arms in permanent ink so their bodies can be easily identified.
As the hurricane gets closer to land the intensity of the storm will increase, raising the risk of tornadoes forming ahead of the main storm.
More than three million people are now at risk of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes are possible, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) warns.
A tornado watch has been issued for Florida south of Tampa down to the Florida Keys by the National Weather Service.
It says tornadoes are “likely”, hail up to half an inch in size is possible, and gusts of 70mph are likely until 9pm tonight.
That could expose 12million in major cities like Miami to the extreme conditions.
Its thought conditions will only worsen after then.
Milton is set to hit just south of Tampa leading authorities in the city to put up flood barriers.
The fence successfully protected the facility from Hurricane Helene’s floodwaters about two weeks ago.
Tampa General Hospital, which sits on the edge of Tampa Bay, is set to stay open and is erecting an AquaFence to try and withstand a surge.
The hospital has an on-site energy plant, a five-day stockpile of food, and staff trained in emergency management to ride out the tempest.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor warned the city’s almost 400,000 residents to urgently evacuate.
She told CNN: “I can say this without any dramatization whatsoever: if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die.”
She said the 15ft storm surge predicted for the city would be deep enough to swallow a house.
Castor said: “So if you’re in it, basically that’s the coffin that you’re in.”
The hurricane has brought the state’s tourism industry to its knees with cruise ships not able to dock, evacuation orders, and cancelled flights.
It comes as…
Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando are also set to close in preparation for the storm.
There are fears Milton is set to be west Florida’s version of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 or 2017’s Hurricane Harvey.
Katrina killed 1,400 people and wrought $125billion damage on the US economy.
Milton is expected to be a low-level Category 4 when it lands – putting its winds at the bottom of the 130-156mph range.
US President Joe Biden said those staying in their homes were facing “a matter of life and death”.
He said: “This could be the worst storm to hit Florida in over a century, and God willing, it won’t be, but that’s what it’s looking like right now.”
Transport links out of central Florida are chaotic or blocked entirely as people try and flee to safety.
Sheriff Chad Chronister or Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, said they have already seen flooding in the city.
He told CNN: “This is the 11th hour. If you’re in an evacuation zone, the time to get out is now.”
St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport is being transformed into a mandatory evacuation zone after the final flight leaves today.
Orlando Airport have stopped all operations, effective from 8am today.
Over 4,600 prisoners are also being moved due to Milton, say Florida’s Department of Corrections.
Thousands of terrified residents have tried to flee towards Miami with motorways left at a standstill.
Tampa’s main airport closed on 9am Tuesday with officials saying it will remain empty until the weather conditions improve.
Florida is already waterlogged after Hurricane Helene hit a fortnight ago meaning more rain won’t drain into the ground.
Bull sharks swam in the streets of the bayside town of Punta Gorda just two weeks ago when Hurricane Helene hit.
Officials said they are still uncovering bodies on the beach who they cannot identify after they believed they could ride out the storm.
A HURRICANE is another name for a tropical cyclone – a powerful storm that forms over warm ocean waters near the equator.
Those arising in the Atlantic or eastern Pacific are called hurricanes, while those in the western Pacific and Indian Ocean are dubbed typhoons or cyclones.
North of the equator they spin anticlockwise because of the rotation of the Earth, however, they turn the opposite way in the southern hemisphere.
Cyclones are like giant weather engines fuelled by water vapor as it evaporates from the sea.
Warm, moist air rises away from the surface, creating a low-pressure system that sucks in air from surrounding areas – which in turn is warmed by the ocean.
As the vapour rises it cools and condenses into swirling bands of cumulonimbus storm clouds.
The system grows and spins faster, sucking in more air and feeding off the energy in seawater that has been warmed by the sun.
At the center, a calm “eye” of the storm is created where cooled air sinks towards the ultra-low pressure zone below, surrounded by spiraling winds of warm air rising.
The faster the wind, the lower the air pressure at the center, and the storm grows stronger and stronger.
Tropical cyclones usually weaken when they hit land as they are no longer fed by evaporation from the warm sea.
But they often move far inland – dumping vast amounts of rain and causing devastating wind damage – before the “fuel” runs out and the storm peters out.
Hurricanes can also cause storm surges when the low air pressure sucks the sea level higher than normal, swamping low-lying coasts.
