Residents of Florida’s Gulf coast were making their final escape ahead of Hurricane Milton, which regained Category 5 strength after briefly weakening earlier on Tuesday. The forecast track wobbled north and south throughout the day and as of 5 p.m. Tuesday, landfall is expected near Sarasota, the National Hurricane Center said. Milton is on course to be potentially “one of the most destructive hurricanes on record” for Florida within 36 hours, hurricane center forecasters said. Hurricane warnings extend across the state on both coasts. After weakening early Tuesday during an eyewall replacement in the Gulf of Mexico — something which typically happens in large hurricanes — Milton’s winds increased to 165 mph later in the day. On Monday, Milton had intensified at an astonishing rate with barometric pressure plunging below 900 millibars, making it one of the top five most intense Atlantic hurricanes on record. At 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, a hurricane hunter aircraft reported the pressure in the eye of Milton was plunging yet again, indicating another explosive intensification. Forecasters said Milton’s up-and-down fluctuations are likely to continue as the storm moves across the Gulf of Mexico’s deep, warm waters. Milton is forecast to come ashore late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning as a major hurricane with winds of 111 to 129 mph, then track east along the densely populated Interstate 4 corridor, south of Orlando, and exit the state near Melbourne on the east coast. Here’s the forecast track for Hurricane Milton as of 5 p.m. Tuesday. Red areas are under hurricane warnings; blue areas are under tropical storm warnings. (National Hurricane Center) But the cone of uncertainty stretches from Homosassa Springs south to Captiva Island. A direct or near-direct hit on Tampa Bay could bring storm surge of 12-15 feet. The mayor of Tampa told residents that such a surge would be “unsurvivable” to those who ignore evacuation orders. “Really, almost every place on the west coast of Florida could get major storm surge,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis at a Tuesday afternoon press event. Tides on the Gulf coast will be incoming around the time of Milton’s landfall, exacerbating the storm surge, which could reach 12-15 feet in some spots. High tide peaks at around 3 or 3:30 a.m. Thursday. Hurricane Milton’s potential storm surge forecast for Florida, as of 5 p.m. Tuesday. (National Hurricane Center) Milton will have a very large wind field by landfall and much of the central portion of Florida is at risk of flash flooding, destructive wind and possible tornadoes. Forecasters expect hurricane and tropical-storm-force winds to roughly double in size by the time Milton makes landfall, bringing life-threatening impacts well outside the forecast cone. The Sun Sentinel has made its coverage of Hurricane Milton free to all readers as a public service. Please consider supporting important breaking news such as this by subscribing to SunSentinel.com at a special rate.  As of 5 p.m., Hurricane Milton was located about 475 miles south-southwest of Tampa, moving east-northeast at 9 mph. Hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 30 miles from the center, and tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 140 miles from the center, the National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory. The storm was starting a predicted turn to the northeast toward its eventual landfall just south of Tampa Bay, which has not endured a direct hit from a hurricane in more than a century. If the track shifts back north and Milton remains a major hurricane, the storm surge in the bay would be catastrophic, forecasters said. Hurricane warnings extend far inland as Milton is forecast to retain Category 2 wind speeds of 100 mph during most of its passage from the west coast to the east coast. South Florida is under a tropical storm warning with high winds from 58 mph to 73 mph and heavy rainfall possible, despite being far from Milton’s forecast path. Officials warn South Florida to be ready for ‘ugly monster’ known as Hurricane Milton DeSantis said at the press event Tuesday that the storm’s track could put several million Floridians at risk, compared to Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in the sparsely populated Big Bend region. “You start talking about the greater Tampa Bay area, that’s millions of people, and then if the storm rides I-4, out to the Atlantic, that’s many millions more.” The Tampa Bay area is still rebounding from Helene and its powerful surge — a wall of water up to 8 feet it created even though its eye was 100 miles offshore. Twelve people died there, with the worst damage along a string of barrier islands from St. Petersburg to Clearwater. “I know some of our residents that just experienced hurricane damage from Hurricane Helene are fatigued,” DeSantis Said. “Just hang in there and do the right thing. Let’s get through this. We can do it together.” Many sand dunes and other natural protection were destroyed less than two weeks ago by Hurricane Helene. “That means storm surge impacts from Milton could be even more significant,” said AccuWeather chief meteorologist Jon Porter. A steady stream of vehicles headed north toward the Florida Panhandle on Interstate 75 as residents heeded evacuation orders. Traffic clogged the southbound lanes of the highway for miles as other residents headed for the relative safety of South Florida. The hurricane center issued a multitude of watches and warnings, including some for South Florida. A National Hurricane Center map showing approximate areas under a hurricane warning (red), hurricane watch (pink), tropical storm warning (blue) and tropical storm watch (yellow) as of 5 p.m. Tuesday, October 8, 2024. (National Hurricane Center) A hurricane warning has been issued for the west coast of Florida from Bonita Beach north to the mouth of the Suwannee River, including Tampa Bay. A tropical storm warning has been issued for the west coast of Florida south of Bonita Beach to Flamingo, including Lake Okeechobee. There is a tropical storm warning for the Florida Keys, including the Dry Tortugas, extending north through Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties to Port St. Lucie, and another for the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina. There is a hurricane warning for the Florida east coast from the St. Lucie/Martin County Line north to Ponte Vedra Beach, and a hurricane watch from the St. Lucie/Martin County line to the Palm Beach/Martin County line. A storm surge warning has been issued for the U.S. East Coast from Sebastian Inlet, including the St. Johns River, to Altamaha Sound, Georgia. Surge watches extend to Edisto Beach, South Carolina. The storm surge warning for the west coast also extends from Flamingo north to the Suwannee River, including Charlotte Harbor and Tampa Bay. In South Florida, tropical-storm-force winds could arrive by by Wednesday afternoon, the National Weather Service said. Seeking sandbags ahead of Hurricane Milton? Here’s where to get them in South Florida Milton presents a worst-case scenario that hurricane experts have worried about for years. A 2015 report from the Boston-based catastrophe modeling firm Karen Clark and Co. concluded that Tampa Bay is the most vulnerable place in the U.S. to storm surge flooding from a hurricane and stands to sustain $175 billion in damage. The city is particularly vulnerable because of the Gulf of Mexico’s underwater topography. The Gulf’s gentle slope allows storms to push water long distances and far inland. Experts say climate change is also a factor. “Due to global warming, global climate models predict hurricanes will likely cause more intense rainfall and have an increased coastal flood risk due to higher storm surge caused by rising seas,” Angela Colbert, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, wrote in a 2022 report. The state has prepared emergency fuel sources and electric vehicle charging stations along evacuation routes, and “identified every possible location that can possibly house someone along those routes,” Guthrie said. People who live in homes built after Florida strengthened its codes in 2004, who don’t depend on constant electricity and who aren’t in evacuation zones, should probably avoid the roads, he said. DeSantis stated that crews readying to mobilize for power restoration, and that Milton may cause outages greater than those brought by Hurricane Helene. There is a “massive amount of resources being marshalled,” he added. Milton is expected to bring rainfall totals of 5 to 8 inches, with localized areas seeing potentially up to 18 inches, across portions of central to northern Florida through Thursday. That will come on top of moisture ahead of the hurricane that is already saturating the state. A flood watch is in effect for all of South Florida into Thursday morning, though all three counties are not in the forecast cone as of Tuesday morning. Broward and Palm Beach county schools were open Tuesday, but will close Wednesday and Thursday, the districts announced on Monday afternoon. Since many of the counties under the Milton state of emergency are still recovering from Hurricane Helene, DeSantis asked the Florida Division of Emergency Management and the Florida Department of Transportation to coordinate all available resources and personnel to supplement local communities as they expedite debris removal. As many as 5,000 National Guard troops are helping state crews to remove the tons of debris left behind by Helene, DeSantis said, and he directed that Florida crews dispatched to North Carolina in Helene’s aftermath return to the state to prepare for Milton. Hurricane Milton: What’s open, closed, canceled and postponed in South Florida Other tropical systems On Monday, a disturbance formed over the Bahamas and has 20% chance of developing in the next 2 days. It is expected to travel northeast, away from Florida. The tropics as of 5 p.m. Tuesday, October 8, 2024. (Courtesy NHC) Far in the Atlantic, Leslie has strengthened back into a hurricane with 75 mph winds, but its track should keep it away from land. The system is located 1,490 miles west-northwest of Africa’s southernmost Cabo Verde Islands and moving northwest at 14 mph. It’s track should cut back east toward Europe in the coming days. In addition, the National Hurricane Center is watching a tropical wave that is expected to move off the west coast of Africa in a few days, although the chance of development is low, with a 20% chance through the next seven days. The next named storm will be Nadine. Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.