'It's a matter of life and death' - Irish tourists evacuated as Hurricane Milton closes on Florida

The latest bulletin from the US National Hurricane Center for Wednesday 9 October makes grim reading.

“Milton remains a catastrophic category 5 hurricane,” the organisation announced at 5am local time (10am Irish time). “Forecast to make landfall on the Florida Gulf coast late tonight as a dangerous major hurricane.”

Hurricane Milton is forecast to bring potentially catastrophic storm surges, high winds and heavy rain to Florida’s Gulf Coast, including the densely populated tourist destinations of Tampa Bay. Some experts are fearing it could be the worst natural disaster to hit the state in a century.

Irish tourists are among those being warned by officials to evacuate Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton’s arrival in the US state.

Upgraded to a Category 5 storm, people are currently racing to get their homes boarded up and leave in preparation for the second hurricane to hit Florida in just a number of weeks.

A photo, shared by astronaut Matthew Dominick, showed the true size of the deadly hurricane.

We flew over Hurricane Milton about 90 minutes ago. Here is the view out the Dragon Endeavour window. Expect lots of images from this window as this is where I’m sleeping while we wait to undock and return to Earth.

Timelapse coming in a separate post.

1/6400 sec, f8, ISO 500 pic.twitter.com/zkhJdTlag7

— Matthew Dominick (@dominickmatthew) October 8, 2024

President Joe Biden pleaded with residents of the southeastern state to leave the area, saying that "It’s a matter of life and death, and that’s not hyperbole".

Governor Ron DeSantis has declared a State of Emergency for 35 counties in Florida.

Walt Disney World will start closing its theme parks at 1pm local time on Wednesday. The attraction hosts 50 million visitors a year, with thousands of Irish tourists descending on the 'happpiest place on Earth' annually.

Florida’s main holiday airport, Orlando International (MCO), “will cease commercial passenger operations at 8am (1pm Irish time) Wednesday 9 October”.

All Irish flights expected to arrive and depart on 9 October have been cancelled.

Landfall is expected in less than 24 hours, Thursday morning Irish time around 6-10am. At the time of landfall, the hurricane is still expected to have winds of a staggering 257kph.

Irish residents in the state are urged to immediately seek the nearest local shelter, as major damage will be done to all buildings in the path of the hurricane.

READ NEXT - 'Do it for Danny' - Fundraiser launched for family of one-year-old with inoperable brain tumour