October 9, 2024 — Floridians evacuating what could be the most powerful hurricane to strike the Tampa Bay region in a century crawled Tuesday along Florida’s major highways, seeking higher ground before Milton’s expected Wednesday night landfall.
Scientists at the National Hurricane Center said the slightly weakened hurricane — which skirted the northern Yucatan Peninsula on Monday night into Tuesday morning — continued to track eastward across a warm Gulf of Mexico, drawing up energy as it approaches Florida’s central Gulf Coast.
In brief remarks before reporters at the White House, President Joe Biden sounded the alarm about Milton’s threat, noting that the storm was projected to both strike Florida’s west coast as a hurricane and possibly exit the east coast and into the Atlantic Ocean at hurricane strength.