Out of florida, millions of people under threat from Monster Size Hurricane milton. That powerful Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 120 miles an hour has come ashore. The eyewall made landfall half an hour ago in siesta key, which is a Barrier Island off of the coast of sarasota. Right now, the storm with a diameter of 450 miles, is bringing lifethreatening winds and potentially devastating Storm Surge up to 13 feet. Earlier today, the national oceanic and atmospheric administration, noaa, took steal drones on the gulf of mexico. They showed 40 nautical miles away from meltons eye, the winds were gusting 76 miles an hour and waves were cresting up at 28 feet high. That powerful storm is hitting land. For those not in the eyewalls direct path, there is reason to be vigilant as much of florida is under a tropical Storm Watch or warning. The national Weather Service also issued warnings in parts of south and central florida, where milton has spawned 10 tornadoes. Airports, schools, and businesses closed earlier today as more than 5 Million people were urged to leave their homes under mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders. Those who heeded the warnings faced shortages at Gas Stations as they scramble to get to safe the. Not everyone has been given the choice to evacuate. According to local reports, some prisons and jails in flood prone areas decided not to evacuate despite orders to do so. The Evacuation Window closed early this afternoon and the national Weather Service announced around 2 00 p. M. Today it is now time to shelter in place. The national Weather Service warned that Hurricane Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for the state of florida. Joining me is nbc News CorrespondentJesse Kirsch, who is in sarasota, florida. What can you tell us about the latest on the ground . We hope you are staying safe. Reporter we are doing our best, thanks for asking. Five minutes ago it was silent out here, i could hear Birds Chirping, it was dry, the leaves were not wrestling. He goes what is happening, we are in the eye of milton and losing the eye we are entering what will potentially be the most dangerous phase of the storm in sarasota you can see the leaves blowing more, bands of rain. I want to have our photographer go to the left, you can see had lights moving off Barrier Island area, that is something we have continued to see throughout the night. There are people on the roads, im not seeing anything indicating that as a first responder vehicle, at minimum, the Police Department suspended having officers on the roads because of the risk. We were just in the eye, it gives a false sense of security. We had people cheering outside, cars with the engines revving, tires burning rubber, the sense of people driving recklessly in the streets. You dont know when the eye will end. We had no idea when this would start to devolve as it is now so people are putting themselves back into Harms Ways as these conditions are so unpredictable. What we are waiting for is potential 13 feet of Storm Surge and Sarasota Bay is just beyond those buildings. Looking at wind gusts close to 100 miles an hour in this area. All of this comes on the heels of Hurricane Helene, which left mountains of debris all over these communities which is why these goggles are at the ready and we are also in Parking Garage. Typically we would be out reporting from the streets as long as we were far back from where the Storm Surge was a threat. Were elevated because of the Storm Surge, inside a garage because of the wind threat, combined with the debris, not secured in time, talking glass, splintered wood, pieces of furniture, all of that could become lethal projectiles. That is something first responders and these communities are contending with beyond what is typically in mind looking at a major hurricane. At this point, everybody should be hunkering down because you can hear it and see it, conditions are deteriorating rapidly. Correspondent Jesse Kirsch, thank you for the update. Do what youve got to do to Stay Safe, we are thinking about you. Lets go down Meteorologist Bill karins, what can you tell us about Hurricane Miltons path at this hour now that it made landfall . The point of the storm that we know destruction is happening, we cant show it because it is too dangerous to be there, everyone is accurate in those areas, hopefully. There is no power anyways, it wont be until The Sun Comes Up and the storm is gone and helicopters are showing the destruction that we actually realize how bad it is on the ground. Unconfirmed reports of 10 foot Storm Surge south of sarasota, in naples, confirmed five foot Storm Surge, there will be damage in those areas. Those areas for helene, five to seven feet, some of these areas had a second time and some worse. Extreme wind warning, wind gusts 90 to 100 miles an hour the last two or three hours from tampa to bradenton to st. Petersburg. A lot of population centers here, threequarter million of people without power, that number is growing quickly with the extreme wins. There is the Storm Surge going up, Onshore Flow continues. Tampa bay had no Storm Surge at all, the winds are blowing out, the numbers are negative because the wind is taking the water from the bay and sending it out to sea. Going through the current gusts, 90th st. Petersburg, 82 in tampa, typically lose power when you hit 50 or 60, having mass Power Outages. Roof damage, trees falling on cars and homes, that sort of thing. We had a 95 mile an hour, category three hurricane tracking inland. Overnight, take it just south of interstate 4, the highest wind and heaviest rain will be from tampa going to the disney complex, universal studios, into orlando and titusville, the melbourne area, palm bay, they will be getting Power Outages throughout the middle of the night. 10 00 a. M. , it is gone and goes out to sea. All of the Wind And Rain should be done with it. A lot of Flash Flooding issues, daytona beach, orlando to tampa, expecting catastrophic flooding. Not from the Storm Surge but inland rain, we saw the pictures of the mountains in north carolina, this is not bad, florida is flat. The water will pile up and sit there, it may be in homes but not a rushing river because of the terrain of florida. Still predicting 5 to 10 inches of rain. We also had tornadoes earlier today, that we know of, injured, took homes, mobile homes, on the East Coast of florida. With a major hurricane like this, we wont know, like the Fog Of War type thing, we wont know until Tomorrow Afternoon Howd bad the damage is occurring right now. Meteorologist will karens, thank you for that update. With us is ken welch, mayor of st. Petersburg, florida, 45 miles north of where Hurricane Milton came ashore tonight. Thank you for being here, i notice a busy and hectic and chaotic time, we really up appreciate your time. What can you tell us about what youre seeing Saint Pete . We are blessed the storm did not hit 50 miles north of where it did. We were looking at 15 feet of Storm Surge, catastrophic wins, looking down the barrel of that gun 24 hours wheres the community down. We are not out of that yet, really high winds and we are coming off of two weeks ago, Hurricane Helene and still trying to recover from that. I think the storm opened a lot of eyes, much better response from our community and we asked about half 1 Million people in Saint Pete and Pinellas County to evacuate, overall, we think that they were responsive to that. This is an example of the new normal as our storms are becoming more powerful, moving more quickly, really testing our infrastructure. Can we talk about that because of the onetwo punch between Helene And Milton . Granted not in the direct path of the storm but your close to it, dealing with managing the cleanup from the last, very recent monster storm, what is your expectation how long it will take things back up and running fully after these two storms or do you even have an estimate at this point . We dont. Just from the Debris Standpoint from helene, looking at months of debris pick up and one of the problems we ran into is trying to compress six months of Debris Collection into a few days before Hurricane Milton hit us. We also have infrastructure needs. We believe in Climate Science and have been investing in our cip, the infrastructure for years. The pace of change that we seek and the strength of storms and the impact is outweighing our Capital Investment so we have to look at everything from the Sewer Plants to wastewater, seawalls, all of those improved at a more rapid pace because changes becoming that more quickly than we thought it would. This might be premature given that we are grappling with this, do you think these two storms are Inflection Point in terms of how the state things about the Climate Crisis and how it manages its mitigation . I think that everybody sees the impact these storms are making to our economy. We have to rebuild in resilient weight and a way that makes sense given our new realities. We focused on mitigation, not contributing to the problem of Carbon Emissions and Sea Level rise, focus more on adaptation and do that and every thing we do in terms of capital improvement. That needs to happen, i can see across the board people understand the need to change the way we look at our environment and how we build in the state of florida. Are you talking to other mayors . I would assume youre dealing regionally with the same crisis, the hurricane coming through the area, do you have a sense of what the needs are more broadly in the region where milton is hitting . I think mayors from all across the florida are on the same page, i heard from mayors from across the state from tallahassee to south florida, we call each other when we are in the target of these storms. At the local level, mayors, county commissioners, understand the investments we need to make given the realities of these storms and the impact they can have on our community. They are becoming more powerful and dont give us time to react. One of the issues here is that milton went from a tropical storm to one of the most powerful hurricanes we have ever seen in a matter of 24 hours. That is the new reality, i think local governments get that and we are working well together. Hopefully the state and federal government will continue partnering with us to make those investments. St. Petersburg mayor ken welch, great to hear from you, thank you for taking time in this busy moment, we really appreciate it. Thank you, have a good one. Coming up, we continue to get live reports from nbc reporters on the ground as Hurricane Milton hits florida. First, republicans are now saying that democrats control the weather. The insanity of climate Change Denial just got crazier. We will discuss Coming Up next. At harbor freight, we design and test our own tools. And sell them directly to you. No middleman. Whatever you do, do it for less at harbor freight. Save even more at our Parking Lot Sale this weekend. what does a robot know. About love . Parking Lot Sale this weekend. It takes a human to translate that leap in our hearts. Into something we can see and hold. Etsy. Hey, scott. 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Reporter we are feeling the brunt of Hurricane Milton right now. While Tampa Bay may not get the surge that would have made this historic and catastrophic, this will do a lot of damage. What we are experiencing in the city of tampa, we have winds gusting as ferociously as 100 miles an hour. Torrential rain falling for hours. We were speaking with Meteorolgist Bill karins earlier, he said that they are recording two to three inches an hour of rain, right now in tampa that will last another three or four hours. Looking at roughly up to a foot of rain falling on a city that already experienced the Rain And Flooding and surge from Hurricane Helene. Now they have this on top of it. And the wind, you factor in the wind, there will be wind damage, damage from the debris already in the streets scattered across roads as well as the flooding that is inevitably going to happen. We have been getting Flash Flood alerts, shelter in place alerts. It seems as though people are heeding the warnings, we dont see people out on the streets. We are in a Parking Garage and sheltered on all three sides. Standing here, i can tell you the wind picks up and im getting knocked around. What is the expectation of when tampa may be in the clear . Reporter there are three or four more hours of this, perhaps the wind will die down in a couple hours. And things will calm down, it still will be, you have Emergency Officials warning people, incredibly dangerous to go out, in part because you have things like downed power lines, roads that are blocked off, the bridges may not be open yet that lead to st. Petersburg, for instance there wont be any gas. It will be difficult and uncomfortable in this area for many days to come. Corresponded stephanie gosk, please Stay Safe where we are. We appreciate the report and update. Lets go to mayor liz alpert, thank you for being her