Tornadic supercells are sweeping across southern Florida as national weather officials warn of impending “life-threatening” storm surges, damaging winds, and flooding rains across the central and southwestern portions of the state. 

While the Florida coast still has hours to go before hurricane Milton’s strongest winds are expected to hit, the National Weather Service in Miami observed at least four twisters and a “multi-vortex tornado” over the course of Wednesday afternoon. By 2 p.m., forecasters had recorded winds of around 130 miles per hour about 120 miles southwest of Tampa. 

After receiving a briefing on Wednesday from the Coast Guard and other federal organizations on the Category 4 hurricane, President Biden said that Milton could be “storm of the century.” The president reportedly canceled his plans to travel to Africa and Germany on Tuesday to be available to respond to the storm. 

“In less than 14 hours, Hurricane Milton will make landfall on the western coast of Florida,” Mr. Biden announced on Wednesday, “Winds will be fierce at well over 100mph, with storm surges reaching up to 15 feet and up to 18 inches of rain,” he said. 

The president urged “everyone in Hurricane Milton’s path to follow all safety instructions as we head to the next 24 hours” adding that it is “literally a matter of life and death.” 

As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 30,000 Florida residents had taken cover in public storm shelters, according to governor DeSantis. He added that there is space for “over 200,000 individuals” across the nearly 150 state and local shelters currency in place. 

Many shelters, Mr. DeSantis noted, are equipped with Wi-Fi connected to Starlink internet systems to allow Floridians to stay online. “Look, it’s not the Four Seasons,” the Florida governor said on Wednesday, “but there are some things there that will make it tolerable to be able to get through the next 24 to 36 hours.”

Nearly 7.3 million Floridians, across 15 counties, face mandatory evacuation orders. 

“This is it, folks,” said an emergency management director of Pinellas County, Cathie Perkins, which is part of Tampa Bay. “Those of you who were punched during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out, and you need to get out now.”

Ms. Perkins added that “Everybody in Tampa Bay should assume we are going to be ground zero.” Tampa Bay, which lies on the coast of Florida, has not been directly hit by a major hurricane in over a century. 

Some residents in the path of Hurricane Milton are still struggling to recover from Hurricane Helene, which struck the southeast in late September and left behind a wake of death and destruction. 

The damage from Helene has amounted to somewhere between $30 and $47.5 billion, one analytics company, CoreLogic, estimates. The death toll has risen to over 225 people, and officials warn that the number is likely to grow.