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By Joe Edwards
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Hurricane Milton is forecast to make landfall "as a dangerous major hurricane" on Florida's Gulf Coast late Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
After being downgraded to a Category 4 on Tuesday, Milton was restored to a Category 5 storm. The NHC described the hurricane as "catastrophic" in an advisory early on Wednesday.
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The dire warnings about Milton come just weeks after Hurricane Helene's deadly assault on the Southeastern U.S., which led to over 230 fatalities, according to the Associated Press. It has been estimated that the economic fallout of Helene could total $160 billion.
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The NHC previously predicted that tropic-storm-force winds could be felt along Florida's west coast starting at 02:00 p.m. ET Wednesday.
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AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist John Ferrick previously told Newsweek that forecasters "expect conditions along the west coast of Florida, including the Tampa Bay area, to deteriorate during the day Wednesday."
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"The worst of the life-threatening conditions along the west coast of Florida, in terms of storm surge and destructive winds, will likely be from Wednesday evening into the early morning hours of Thursday," Ferrick said.
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Evacuation orders have been issued in multiple Florida counties, and images of highways in the Sunshine State show roads clogged with traffic.
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As of Monday, evacuation orders were in place for Charlotte, Citrus, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas and Volusia counties.
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By Tuesday, additional orders were issued in Hernando County, with voluntary evacuations in place in Glades, Sarasota and Okeechobee counties.
Evacuation notices were issued for more than 30 counties in the state by early Wednesday.
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Following the waves of evacuations, several gas stations in the state reportedly ran out of fuel.
GasBuddy, a company that tracks gas availability, showed dozens of gas stations near the Tampa area as having limited fuel.
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Governor Ron DeSantis told Floridians there was no fuel shortage in the state in a Tuesday morning press conference.
"Fuel continues to arrive in the state of Florida by port and what we're doing to bring it in on the ground. But lines at gas stations have been long. Gas stations are running out quicker than they otherwise would. And that is causing the state of Florida to help assist with the mission to be able to get fuel to the gas stations," the governor said.
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Update, 10/09/2024, 10:12 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional content.
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