Thousands of fleeing cars clogged Florida's highways ahead of the storm, but time for evacuations was running out Wednesday. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor noted that up to 15 feet (4.5 meters) of storm surge forecast for her city would be deep enough to swallow an entire house.

Milton was downgraded early Tuesday to a Category 4 hurricane but remained on a path toward Florida, threatening a dangerous storm surge in Tampa Bay, leading to evacuation orders and lending more urgency to the cleanup from Hurricane Helene,

As Hurricane Milton continued its slow path toward Florida’s Gulf Coast on Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis urged residents in evacuation zones to head to safer places as soon as possible. He didn’t have to convince Jossie and Carmelo Erazo.

Dozens of health care facilities in Florida are suspending services and/or preparing to evacuate as Hurricane Milton approaches. On Sunday, Pinellas County – located on the west central Florida coast and including Clearwater and St.

Hurricane Milton will bring the potential for strong damaging winds, considerable rainfall, threat for flooding, tornadoes and even coastal storm surge through the duration of the storm.

Hurricane Milton has once again surged to Category 5 strength. Officials say residents should rush to finish preparing for the storm.

Less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene devastated parts of the U.S. Southeast, Florida is gearing up for another major storm as Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall on Tuesday, Oct.

Waffle House restaurants in Florida are closing as Hurricane Milton nears the state's Gulf Coast. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the breakfast restaurant chain said it was closing some of its breakfast restaurants in Tampa and Fort Myers,

The “Waffle House Index,” an unofficial but nonetheless reliable measurement for natural disasters, is already indicating trouble over Hurricane Milton. Waffle House announced that 25 Waffle Houses in the Tampa Bay area and eight in the Fort Myers area had closed down as of 2 p.