Welcome back to bbc news. Lets get more on our top story. Hurricane milton which is making its way towards the West Coast of florida. Five million people have been told to get out of its way. President biden says leaving was a matter of life and death. Nicole maul is the national spokesperson for the American Red Cross. Nicole is in tallahassee, florida and told us how theyve been preparing for something of this magnitude. Ican i can tell you that the American Red Cross has been on the ground in florida and the South East for more than two weeks in response first to Hurricane Helene and now milton. We need to understand what the impacts will be across florida. There are shelters across the state for folks who are evacuating and i cannot stress enough how important it is, if you are being told to evacuate you absolutely need to follow his orders. We do not know what the storm can bring, we know it will be dangerous and they want folks to stay safe as possible. I5 and they want folks to
Fort myers beach, in florida. You can see those high winds and heavy rains beginning to lash the coast there in fort myers. You can see how much the camera is shaking with the wind there, and obviously large waves warned of Storm Surges and rising water levels, as you can see coming up over the beach and onto the barriers, and beyond. This is from a short time ago in fort myers. You can see the before and after of water coming up over this hotel pool. Quite dramatic there. And just to show how dangerous this storm is, even with the storm still offshore, it is already causing damage. It has spawned several tornadoes which have been reported in the state, including in Areas that are seeing flooding. This is a home in fort myers that was hit by one of those tornadoes. You can see the roof is ripped off and the interior already destroyed, and the hurricane itself hasnt even arrived. These pictures from space give you a sense of the size of the monster storm. Its bringing winds of up to 120
Is set to hit Floridas Gulf Coast late Wednesday Night tampa, potentially in the bullseye in the Citys Mayor is not mincing words. She is warning people who dont evacuate, quote you are going to die it appears some are taking her very seriously with those foreboding words, hitting the roads and streaming out of the area before it gets too late. The storm described as extremely dangerous with sustained winds of 100 and 65 miles per hour. Milton, now the strongest storm to occur anywhere on the planet. This year. I want to bring in Cnn Meteorologist Chad myers. Chad, weve heard the strong words in the tampa mayor. What is this new advisory show . It shows that we lost a little bit of pressure. The pressure went up. Thats good news. Weve lost a little bit of Wind Speed from one at 165. Thats still category five okay. Were not were not bringing this down. Do cat two or one or tropical storm a very dangerous storm, but hurricane hunters, both noah and also Air Force have flown in the ai ove
Us an update on preparations for milton from the White House. The ongoing response to Hurricane Helene. Well take you live to the White House minutes away. Welcome to a new hour of americas newsroom, im dana perino. Bill i hate to see that radar, just see that thing churn out there. A big one. Im bill hemmer, good morning at home. The storm really, if you have checked out for a day or so, you missed a major headline. This thing really came out of nowhere Yesterday Morning i would argue between 8 00 a. M. And 11 00 a. M. Eastern time and got cranked up coming off the Yucatan Peninsula In Mexico and now going through the Gulf Of Mexico warm waters. Dana they are warning it could become one of the most destructive hurricanes on record and the state of florida is getting ready to brace for this direct hit as bill was saying. A massive exodus now underway. Millions of residents rushing to evacuate the coast and other lowlying areas with hours left before Miltons Arrival as crews scramble to