Biden urges those in Hurricane Milton's path to 'evacuate now'

 

US President Joe Biden has urged those who have been ordered to leave before Hurricane Milton makes landfall in Florida to evacuate now, saying it is a matter of life and death.

 

Mr. Biden added that he has approved pre-landfall emergency declarations in Florida and is calling for airlines to accommodate evacuations and not engage in price-gouging.

 

Addressing a media briefing to update the country on preparations for the storm, Mr. Biden said its potential scale and impact could be devastating, with possible storm surge of 15 feet. 

 

"The current path of this storm is to affect the Tampa Bay area and cut directly across the state, East to West, all the way across the state, with the potential for this storm to both enter Florida as a hurricane and leave Florida as a hurricane on the Atlantic coast. 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," the president warned. 

 

As at 11 o'clock Tuesday morning, the National Hurricane Center said Milton had winds of 150 miles per hour, keeping it just below Category 5 status.

 

The NHC says Milton continues to pose an extremely serious threat to Florida and that Tuesday is the last full day that residents have to prepare their homes and families.

 

Forecasters say Milton will retain its major hurricane status and will expand in size before making landfall.

 

The storm comes less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene hit the Gulf Coast as a category four storm, killing at least 225 people across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina.