Hurricane Milton ‘explodes’ into Category 5 storm as Florida braces for ‘life-threatening’ 180-mph winds: Live

A Florida mayor issued a stark warning that residents will die if they don’t evacuate as Hurricane Milton intensified to a Category 5 on Monday evening.

The potential “once in a lifetime” storm is bearing down on the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to remain “extremely dangerous” as it makes landfall in Florida by Wednesday, hitting the densely populated Tampa Bay area first.

With air pressure in the storm’s eye dropping to a near-record low 897 millibars and winds reaching 160mph, Milton is now the fifth most intense Atlantic hurricane on record.

“If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you’re gonna die,” Tampa mayor Jane Castor said on CNN. Hurricane Helene was a “wake-up call,” but Milton could be “literally catastrophic,” she said.

Pinellas County sheriff Bob Gualtieri warned locals to p repare for the largest evacuation since Hurricane Irma , saying, “This is going to be bad. Everyone just needs to get out.”

Milton is racing towards areas already devastated by Hurricane Helene.

“There are some areas with a lot of debris... if hit by a major hurricane, it’s going to dramatically increase damage,” Florida governor Ron DeSantis warned.