Hurricane Milton: Travel warning as Brits heading to the US must take urgent action

Brits either or already in the beleaguered US state have been warned to take urgent action ahead of the arrival of .

Officials have told their people to evacuate from the areas set to be hit hardest on Wednesday, with huge ten foot storm surges feared as well as 150mph winds. The storm’s wrath could bring destruction to areas already reeling from Helene's devastation 12 days ago and still recovering from Ian's wrath two years ago. It has now reached Mexico, and Florida is next. Thousands of Brits are among those in the Sunshine State, who will be battening down as the massive storm thunders through.

The Foreign Office has warned those in the area or travelling to Florida: “Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall on the west coast of Florida on the night of 9 October or morning of 10 October with tropical force winds affecting the west coast from the morning of 9 October. There is an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge and high winds on the west coast and heavy rainfall and high winds are expected to impact large parts of Florida.

READ MORE:

“You should monitor approaching storms on the , follow instructions from local authorities, including evacuation orders, visit the for information on preparing for extreme and evacuating and check with your airline or travel agent about possible disruption to flights or airport services and follow their advice.”

The travel advice also covers American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and United States Virgin Islands.

Traffic is thick in the state as people fled the Tampa area ahead of Milton. As they evacuated, crews along the coast hurried to clear Helene's debris so Milton does not turn it into dangerous projectiles. Milton strengthened to a Category 5 storm on Monday before weakening Tuesday to a Category 4.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a morning news conference: “You do not have to get on the interstate and go far away. You can evacuate tens of miles, you do not have to evacuate hundreds of miles away. You do have options."

Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld will all close their theme parks and respective entertainment facilities on Wednesday, with the latter two also closed on Thursday and Disney likely to remain closed. Universal also cancelled Halloween Horror Nights scheduled for both days. The theme parks join Orlando International Airport, which said it would cease operations Wednesday morning.