Evacuations continue as Florida braces for Milton

Lineman trucks in preparation for Hurricane Milton. Pic/AP

Hurricane Milton churned Wednesday toward a potentially catastrophic collision along the west coast of Florida, where some residents insisted they would stay after millions were ordered to evacuate and officials warned that stragglers would face grim odds of surviving.

The Tampa Bay area, home to more than 3.3 million people, faced the possibility of widespread destruction after avoiding direct hits from major hurricanes for more than a century. The National Hurricane Center predicted Milton, a monstrous Category 5 hurricane during much of its approach, would likely weaken but remain a major hurricane when it makes landfall late Wednesday.

Milton was centered early Wednesday about 580 km southwest of Tampa with maximum sustained winds of 260 kmph, the National Hurricane Center reported.

Thousands of fleeing cars clogged Florida's highways, but time for evacuations was running out on Wednesday. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor noted that up to 15 feet of storm surge forecast for her city would be deep enough to swallow an entire house.

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