"'Stay and you die': Florida braces for Hurricane Milton

Florida's west coast was making emergency preparations last night for the impact of Hurricane Milton, with thousands of evacuees clogging roads with their vehicles and the mayor of Tampa warning residents bluntly "you are going to die" if they stayed behind.

- Oliver Holmes Edward Helmore New York

The US National Hurricane Center said Milton would retain major hurricane status and "expand in size" as it approached Florida, and residents should get "their families and homes ready" - and evacuate if told to do so.

The US president, Joe 24 Biden said that Hurricane bluntly "you are going to die" if they stayed behind.

The US National Hurricane Center said Milton would retain major hurricane status and "expand in size" as it approached Florida, and residents should get "their families and homes ready" -and evacuate if told to do so.

The US president, Joe Biden said that Hurricane Milton could be one of the worst storms in the US for 100 years and advised residents to leave immediately as "a matter of life and death".

The storm passed the Mexican city of Mérida, home to 1.2 million people, in the early hours of yesterday morning before swerving north towards the US. Mexican officials had been bussing people out of low-lying coastal areas.

Milton is projected to hit the southwest coast of Florida by this evening local time, the US National Weather Service said, and could cause destruction in areas already reeling from Hurricane Helene's devastation nearly two weeks ago.

Almost all of Florida's west coast was under a hurricane warning, with more than 1 million people told to evacuate, fleeing potentially catastrophic damage and power cuts that could last days.