Hurricane Milton tracker: May be one of Florida's worst storms in 100 years
Hurricane Milton, which re-strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane Tuesday afternoon, is taking aim at Florida's west coast. Landfall is expected late Wednesday night, possibly as a Category 3 hurricane.
Milton is closing in as Floridians are still recovering from the devastation unleashed by Hurricane Helene.
Latest Developments
Oct 8, 4:56 PM
Milton strengthens to Category 5 again
Milton has re-strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane with 165 mph winds.
Oct 8, 4:30 PM
17% of stations without gas in Florida: GasBuddy
On Tuesday afternoon, 17.4% of Florida’s gas stations were out of fuel, according to GasBuddy data.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday that, despite long lines at gas stations, the state didn’t have a fuel shortage. He said on Tuesday that 27 fuel trucks were escorted by the highway patrol overnight to help replenish gas stations.
Oct 8, 4:08 PM
Disney World announces closure
Disney World said its parks will close in phases as the hurricane approaches.
Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom will close at 1 p.m. Wednesday while Magic Kingdom, EPCOT and Disney Springs will close one hour later.
The parks will likely stay closed on Thursday, Disney said.
Disney is the parent company of ABC News.
Oct 8, 4:59 PM
Tracking Milton: Latest forecast
Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida.
Milton is forecast to be a major hurricane when it makes landfall late Wednesday night or early Thursday near Tampa and Sarasota.
The Tampa area is bracing for a potentially record-breaking storm surge up to 15 feet. This would shatter the record-breaking storm surge just two weeks ago from Hurricane Helene.
Storm surge could reach 10 feet in Fort Myers and 7 feet in Naples.
Because of Milton’s large size, tropical storm-force winds are expected across nearly all of Florida. These winds will likely cause widespread damage to property and trees and leave millions without power for days to weeks.
The highest rain totals are expected from Tampa to Orlando to Daytona, where an extreme flash flood risk -- the highest level -- is in effect.
Five to 12 inches of rain is in the forecast; locally up to 18 inches is expected.
-ABC News’ Melissa Griffin
Oct 8, 3:17 PM
Florida faces its largest emergency health care facility evacuation
Florida is facing its largest-ever evacuation of emergency health care facilities due to Hurricane Milton, a Florida Department of Health spokesperson told ABC News.
DOH is actively assisting health care facilities in areas expecting high impacts from #HurricaneMilton with roughly 600 emergency medical vehicles staged throughout central Florida. pic.twitter.com/QmHxJ7BPkf
— Florida Dept. of Health (@HealthyFla) October 8, 2024
-ABC News' Mary Kekatos
Oct 8, 3:17 PM
White House using Reddit to try to combat hurricane misinformation
The White House is launching a Reddit account to try to combat misinformation about hurricanes Helene and Milton, a White House official said.
The White House will use the account to post about how people can access FEMA support. The account will also engage with posts that are sharing false information and correct the record, the official said.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Oct 8, 1:57 PM
Over 700 flights canceled Tuesday, another 1,500 canceled Wednesday
Over 700 flights have been canceled across the country on Tuesday and another 1,500 flights are canceled on Wednesday as Hurricane Milton closes in on Florida.
The St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport, Tampa International Airport, Orlando International Airport, Orlando Sanford International Airport and Sarasota Bradenton International Airport are all set to close.
The Florida Division of Emergency Services said it has partnered with Uber to provide free rides to and from shelters as residents evacuate ahead of Milton.
Oct 8, 1:50 PM
United: All flights leaving storm zone are full
United Airlines added extra flights and bigger planes to airports in the storm zone, and now the airline says all of its flights are full.
United currently has 25,000 people booked from affected airports.
The St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport, Tampa International Airport, Orlando International Airport, Orlando Sanford International Airport and Sarasota Bradenton International Airport are all set to close for the storm.
-ABC News’ Sam Sweeney
Oct 8, 2:04 PM
'Storm of the century' for Tampa
"We’ve never seen anything like this before," Tampa police chief Lee Bercaw warned Tuesday as Milton approaches. "This is the storm of the century."
Tampa Bay is forecast to face a record-breaking storm surge of 10 to 15 feet. That surge will rise above a single-story home, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor stressed.
"That’s the coffin that you’re in," she said at a news conference.
Castor said she spoke to President Joe Biden Monday night and relayed that the city’s most important need was getting household debris from Hurricane Helene "off of the street so that doesn’t become additional fuel for Hurricane Milton."
In Hillsborough County, which encompasses Tampa, more than 1,700 people were already in nine shelters as of Tuesday morning, county emergency management director Timothy Dudley Jr. said, adding that the facilities are prepared to take a lot more people.
"Don’t panic. You have time. Get somewhere safe," he said.
Oct 8, 12:56 PM
Counties issue mandatory evacuation orders
Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued in parts of counties along Florida's west coast and even Florida's east coast, including in Charlotte, Citrus, Collier, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lee, Levy, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Sarasota, St. Johns and Volusia.
"If you live in a storm surge evacuation zone and you're asked to leave by your local officials, please do that," Michael Brennan, the director of NOAA's national hurricane center, told ABC News Live on Sunday. "You don't have to drive hundreds of miles to get to a safe place, often just tens of miles to get inland, out of that evacuation zone, to a shelter, a friend or loved one's home."
Brennan also urged Floridians to prepare a disaster kit with several days’ worth of nonperishable food, water, medicine and batteries.