Hurricane Milton has been upgraded to category five again and is now within a day of hitting Tampa and surrounding areas in the US state of Florida.

Milton developed from a tropical storm to a category five hurricane in just hours. Featuring a combination of unusually warm ocean water and increasing winds reaching over 290kph, the hurricane will be so strong it will maintain at least a category three intensity upon landfall on Wednesday evening local time.

The western Florida-bound hurricane will hit the Tampa Bay area first, where less than a fortnight ago Hurricane Helene caused devastation, destroying homes and leaving over 200 dead as it ran through five different states. The Tampa area could see up to 381mm of rain when Milton first hits, smashing the record just recently set by Helene.

Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown said most residents should be evacuating to prevent inevitable danger.

“Get out of these areas,” he said. “We can replace your home, we can’t replace your life,”

“We don’t want to be finding bodies floating in rivers — and we’ve seen that before.”

Currently Floridians are fleeing in response to the development of the hurricane. Interstates between Tampa and Orlando have been backed up since Tuesday as Florida residents seek refuge in hotels and gas station car parks. Some local communities have been completely evacuated, resembling ghost towns.

Along with this, 17 percent of Floridian gas stations have run out of fuel, causing multiple gas tank trucks having to be piled into the state in an aim to replenish fuel sources.

Rental companies also ran out of vehicles quickly in the recent days and over 2,000 flights have been cancelled in the last 48 hours for flights that were planned to leave on Tuesday and Wednesday out of Florida.

President Joe Biden said the storm could be historically devastating and says he is constantly staying in contact with local politicians.

“It could be one of the worst storms in 100 years in Florida,” he said.

“I spoke to all the political leaders in the region – some of them more than once – and I’ve told them anything they ask for, they can get.”

Similar hurricanes that have hit the USA recently have featured over 160kph winds and multiple deaths. Hurricane Beryl struck Texas in July causing up to US$32 billion in damages and saw at least 36 dead.

Hurricane Idalia was the most recent to hit the Florida area other than Helene. Idalia followed through into the states of Georgia, North and South Carolina causing mass flooding and at least US$3 billion in damages.

But the most devastating in the recent years was Hurricane Ian, also striking the west coast of Florida Ian was a category four upon arrival and caused mass destruction equating to over US$112 billion in damage. Ian saw over 150 deaths and impacted areas including Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina and even Cuba.

As Milton is estimated to be a category three at landfall, civilians can expect a similar impact to what Ian brought. They should prepare for property damage, flooding and even loss of power for days to weeks.

Photo: Earth Planet by Pixabay is available HERE and is used under a Creative Commons Licence. This image has not been modified.