Hurricane Milton latest: Tampa airport closes as millions hit the roads before hurricane makes landfall in Florida

The National Weather Service has released a map showing the predicted storm surges for Florida’s coastal areas.

The mid-section of the Gulf Coast, including Tampa Bay, is expected to be hardest-hit with surges of up to 15 feet.

Meanwhile, areas around Yankeetown, Anclote River, and Bonita Beach will see surges of up to 10 feet.

The surges diminish for areas further from the Tampa Bay danger zone – but the entire Gulf Coast and a large swathe of the east coast will experience a surge of some form.

Tampa Bay officials are shutting off access to running water ahead of Hurricane Milton barreling in.

Authorities in Manatee County said the ‘necessary interruption of service’ would ‘ensure the utility infrastructure remains intact and to save the sewer lift stations’ from the devastating impacts of the storm.

The county has also suspended trash pickup services.

In the Sarasota County city of Venice, faucets and even fire hydrants will be closed off from Tuesday evening.

This will continue throughout the duration of Milton’s wrath over the county plus several more days.

‘Once service is restored, you will be under a boil water advisory until you receive a notification stating the water is safe for consumption,’ city officials said.

Tampa is especially vulnerable to the destructive impacts of hurricanes, meaning Milton could be catastrophic, according to Dr Steven Godby, an expert in natural hazards in Nottingham Trent University’s School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences.

Dr Godby said this is thanks to a combination of the low-lying water close to Tampa Bay and its dense population and infrastructure.

‘Tampa has long been regarded as the most vulnerable metropolitan area in the United States to storm surge flooding,’ Dr Godby explained to DailyMail.com

‘Direct hurricane strikes on the west coast of Florida are rare, but much of it is low-lying and the relatively shallow water offshore makes it vulnerable to large storm surges.

‘The last major hurricane (Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale) to affect the Tampa Bay region made landfall in on 25 October 1921, bringing a storm surge of 3-3.5 metres and winds of 185 km/h that caused losses that today would be $180 million.

‘With Hurricane Milton bearing down on Tampa it is worth noting that the population at that time was around 160,000 and has now swelled to over three million, many living on ground less than three metres above sea level.

‘Large numbers of homes, schools, government buildings and critical infrastructure are at risk of flooding and wind damage.’

Dr Godby added that the debris left over by Hurricane Helene which struck the region two weeks ago also poses an additional risk of projectiles being whipped up by severe winds.

‘The authorities having been stressing that people living along this coast have no living memory of this kind of storm, need to evacuate if instructed to do so and to be somewhere safe by Tuesday night,’ he said.

Floridians are doing their best to protect their homes and businesses from Milton’s incoming onslaught, deploying sandbags and boarding up their windows.

Many have been told to leave immediately, and it’s uncertain what they’ll return to – as the severe hurricane is expected to cause ‘catastrophic damage’ to well-built structures, the National Hurricane Center has warned.

Lightning can be seen flickering in the eye of Hurricane Milton, which is currently barreling through the Gulf of Mexico.

Milton expanded this morning as it hurtled over the Gulf of Mexico towards Tampa – making it potentially ‘one of the most destructive hurricanes on record’ for west-central Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The hurricane’s 155mph winds are becoming more wide-reaching from the center of the storm – vastly increasing its capacity to cause widespread destruction.

Milton’s gales extended around 80 miles from the eye of the storm through Monday, and this increased to just over 100 miles by Wednesday morning.

‘Milton is still a relatively compact hurricane, but the wind field is expected to continue to grow in size as it approaches Florida,’ the National Hurricane Center said.

‘In fact, the official forecast shows the hurricane and tropical-storm-force winds roughly doubling in size by the time it makes landfall.’

The Fort Myers/Naples/Cape Coral area of Florida on the I-75 towards Miami was almost at a standstill Tuesday morning as people tried to flee.

Similar scenes are also playing out on the I-4 towards Orlando and the NB I-75 out of Tampa.