Hurricane Milton intensifies to category 3 as Florida braces for ‘major impacts’

Milton strengthened into a category 3 hurricane on Monday as Florida gears up for what could be its biggest evacuation in seven years as the storm headed toward population centers including Tampa and Orlando.

The storm was major hurricane as it moved over the Gulf of Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 120mph (193km/h), the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

Milton could make landfall on Wednesday in the Tampa Bay area and remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida into the Atlantic Ocean. It comes less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene struck, causing more than 200 deaths and catastrophic damage from Florida into the Appalachian Mountains.

The Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, said on Sunday that while it remained to be seen exactly where Milton would strike, it was clear the state was going to be hit hard.

“I don’t think there’s any scenario where we don’t have major impacts at this point,” he said.

“You have time to prepare – all day today, all day Monday, probably all day Tuesday to be sure your hurricane preparedness plan is in place,” DeSantis said. “If you’re on that west coast of Florida, barrier islands, just assume you’ll be asked to leave.”

With Milton achieving hurricane status, this is the first time the Atlantic has had three simultaneous hurricanes after September, according to the Colorado State University hurricane scientist Phil Klotzbach. There have been four simultaneous hurricanes in August and September.

The St Petersburg-Tampa Bay area is still cleaning up extensive damage from Helene and its powerful storm surge. Twelve people perished as Helene swamped the coast, with the worst damage along the narrow, 20-mile (32km) string of barrier islands that stretch from St Petersburg to Clearwater.

DeSantis expanded his state of emergency declaration on Sunday to 51 counties and said Floridians should prepare for more power outages and disruption, making sure they have a week’s worth of food and water and are ready to hit the road.

Florida officials said they were preparing for the largest evacuation the state had seen since Hurricane Irma hit in 2017.

They asked people who live in homes built after Florida strengthened codes in 2004, who do not depend on constant electricity and who are not in evacuation zones to avoid the roads.

All classes and school activities in St Petersburg’s Pinellas county pre-emptively closed Monday through Wednesday as Milton approached. Officials in Tampa opened all city garages free of charge to residents hoping to protect their cars from floodwaters, including electric vehicles. The vehicles must be left on the third floor or higher in each garage.

As many as 4,000 national guard troops are helping state crews to remove debris, DeSantis said, and he directed Florida crews dispatched to North Carolina in Helene’s aftermath to return in preparation for Milton.