Hurricane Milton is a strong Category 4 Hurricane

The National Hurricane Center reports that Hurricane Milton is currently a strong category 4 storm and is on a track to hit the west-central coast of Florida on Wednesday.

The National Hurricane Center report that Milton has winds that have increased to 150 mph. To be category 5 then sustained winds strength would have to reach at least 157 mph.

At one point on Monday Milton was clocked with sustained winds of 180 mph but there was some weakening overnight.

"Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida," the Hurricane Center said.

While the winds may have weakened the size of the storm has increased and it could potentially double its size by the time it hits Florida.

"Milton poses an extremely serious threat to Florida," the National Hurricane Center said.

Florida is still recovering from Hurricane Helene.

The state of Florida and the Biden-Harris Administration are having to mobilize additional resources and personnel to prepare for the impacts of this new major storm. Preparedness efforts are underway by federal, state, and local governments.

The White House insists that FEMA has sufficient funding to both support the response to Hurricane Milton and continue to support the response to Hurricane Helene– including funding to support first responders and provide immediate assistance to disaster survivors.

President Biden has already approved the Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's request for an emergency declaration. Under an emergency declaration, FEMA provides direct Federal support to states for life-saving activities and other emergency protective measures, such as evacuation, sheltering, and search and rescue.

The White House reports that President Joseph R. Biden was briefed yesterday on Hurricane Milton's potential impacts to the Florida Gulf Coast and the work FEMA is doing to preposition life-saving resources in advance of the storm. He is also receiving another briefing today from Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall.

FEMA has been coordinating closely with Tampa Mayor Jane Castor's team and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell is visiting Tampa today. The Administration has also reached out to state officials in South Carolina and Georgia and will continue outreach efforts based on Hurricane Milton's latest trajectory.

Florida residents are urged to stay alert, listen to local officials, and make additional preparations as needed.

The White House says that it is pre-positioning resources and personnel ahead of the storm. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is flying Hurricane Hunters into the current storm to gather data to models and help hone prediction of the storm's track and timing. Hurricanes can take unexpected moves. Helene was expected to travel north just east of the Alabama/Georgia line before turning into Northeast Alabama on its way to Tennessee. Instead, it turned to the northeast severely impacting east Georgia, South Carolina, East Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia.

FEMA has two incident staging bases with commodities including food and water. Right now, FEMA currently has 20 million meals and 40 million liters of water in the pipeline to deploy as needed used to address ongoing Helene and Milton response efforts with capacity to expand as needed.

The White House warns that debris remaining from the impacts of Hurricane Helene poses additional threats to lives and livelihoods if another storm occurs. FEMA is supporting the State of Florida to expedite the removal of debris from Hurricane Helene in the Tampa region in advance of Hurricane Milton's landfall.

FEMA is providing all flexibility available for reimbursement for debris removal activities, to help the State take whatever action is required to speed debris removal before Milton's landfall. To that end, FEMA is supporting Florida in surging additional resources to the Tampa area to get as much debris picked up as possible. State-run debris management sites are open 24 hours a day, and contracted trucks can deliver debris to those sites around the clock.

The Governor of Florida has activated 4,000 State active-duty National Guard, many of whom will help with debris removal.

People who live on barrier islands, including Fort Meyers Beach and the Tampa area, as well as people who live in low lying areas are being ordered to evacuate. Many of those Florida evacuees are headed north to Georgia and Alabama. Over a hundred thousand people are already displaced by Hurricane Helene.

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