Hurricane Milton is forecast to make landfall in Florida late Wednesday night.
Hurricane Milton, which re-strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane Tuesday afternoon, is taking aim at Florida's west coast. Landfall is expected late Wednesday night as a Category 3 hurricane.
Milton is closing in as Floridians are still recovering from the devastation unleashed by Hurricane Helene.
Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida.
Milton is forecast to weaken as it approaches Florida, but is expected to be a strong Category 3 hurricane when it makes landfall late Wednesday night or early Thursday near Tampa and Sarasota.
The Tampa area is bracing for a potentially record-breaking storm surge up to 15 feet. This would shatter the record-breaking storm surge set just two weeks ago from Hurricane Helene.
Storm surge could reach 12 feet in Fort Myers.
Because of Milton’s large size, tropical storm-force winds are expected across nearly all of Florida. These winds will likely cause widespread damage to property and trees and leave millions without power for days to weeks.
The highest rain totals are expected from Tampa to Orlando to Daytona, where an extreme flash flood risk -- the highest level -- is in effect.
Five to 12 inches of rain is in the forecast; locally up to 18 inches is expected.
-ABC News’ Melissa Griffin
As Florida residents face urgent evacuation warnings ahead of Hurricane Milton's landfall, American Airlines is adding 2,000 seats to flights out of Florida Tuesday, the airline said in a statement.
The airline said they will operate multiple additional flights out of Orlando International Airport "to allow customers who would like to evacuate by air the opportunity to do so."
Milton has re-strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane with 165 mph winds.
On Tuesday afternoon, 17.4% of Florida’s gas stations were out of fuel, according to GasBuddy data.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday that, despite long lines at gas stations, the state didn’t have a fuel shortage. He said on Tuesday that 27 fuel trucks were escorted by the highway patrol overnight to help replenish gas stations.
Disney World said its parks will close in phases as the hurricane approaches.
Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom will close at 1 p.m. Wednesday while Magic Kingdom, EPCOT and Disney Springs will close one hour later.
The parks will likely stay closed on Thursday, Disney said.
Disney is the parent company of ABC News.
