Hurricane Milton: Millions evacuate as 'storm of the century' bears down on Florida's west coast

Milton was expected to maintain hurricane strength as it crossed the Florida peninsula, posing storm-surge danger on the state's Atlantic Coast as well

Police block off a bridge leading to the barrier island of St Petersburg Beach in Florida ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton. Picture: AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

An expanding Hurricane Milton closed in on Florida's west coast on Wednesday, spawning tornados and lashing the region with rain and wind hours ahead of its expected landfall near Tampa Bay, where it could deliver a life-threatening surge of seawater to waterfront communities already battered by Hurricane Helene.

Millions of people along a stretch of more than 300 miles (483 km) of coastline were under evacuation orders, just two weeks after Helene cut a swath of devastation. Authorities issued increasingly dire warnings on Wednesday as landfall, expected at about midnight, drew closer.