Florida residents continued preparations to safeguard their homes and hunker down or get out of town as Hurricane Milton barreled toward the Sunshine State this week, which is expected to bring life-threatening conditions from Wednesday into Thursday.
Milton regained Category 5 storm strength Tuesday evening, just a day after becoming one of the strongest hurricanes on record in the Atlantic basin.
As of 8 p.m. ET Tuesday, Milton packed winds up to 165 mph and was moving east-north-east between Mexico and Cuba.
The forecast cone has Milton making landfall between Fort Myers and Tampa, Florida, sometime on Thursday morning, though winds are predicted to diminish down to about 125 mph by that time, according to FOX Weather.
FLORIDIANS PREPARE FOR THE WORST AS HURRICANE MILTON QUICKLY APPROACHES
Hillsborough County, Fla., residents fill sandbags ahead of Hurricane Milton. (Hillsborough County Sheriff)
As the storm continued to push toward the west coast of Florida, residents posted videos showing what they were experiencing in preparation for Milton’s arrival.
One video from Hillsborough County showed residents filling sandbags that will be used to protect their properties from rushing waters.
In the video, a truck is seen backing up and dumping sand, which is then followed by residents using shovels and their bare hands to fill bags.
A Costco in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., had several bare shelves in the back of the store where water and toilet paper are typically made available. (@DuttyCoombs / X)
Another video shot inside a Costco store in Fort Lauderdale, Florida showed several of the shelves in the back of the big box empty. The man who shot the video, X user @DuttyCoombs, is heard saying there is no water and no toilet paper.
“That’s the back aisle at Costco, bro,” he said. “Ain’t no toilet paper. Ain’t nothing. No water. No water. Ain’t got nothing to drink. Good lord.”
At another box store in Fort Myers, a Target parking lot reportedly on high ground was filled with RVs, EVs and boats, in video shot on Monday night.
Hurricane Milton churns and gains strength in the Gulf of Mexico as it barrels toward Florida. (Fox News)
Milton is expected to bring a deadly storm surge, destructive winds and flooding rain, FOX Weather reported. Forecasters warned of a possible 10- to 15-foot storm surge in Tampa Bay. It is the highest surge ever predicted for that location and has led to evacuation orders for communities all along the coast.
The storm could also bring widespread flooding, with 5 inches to a foot of rain forecast for the Florida peninsula, and even up to 18 inches in some places.
Eleven Florida counties under mandatory evacuation orders are home to about 5.9 million people, according to county-level population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.
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Over the weekend, Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 51 of the state’s 67 counties.
President Biden approved the state’s pre-landfall emergency declaration request on Monday, which allows the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts and provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures.
Fox News Digital’s Pilar Arias contributed to this report.
