Hurricane Milton live updates: Florida bracing for direct hit from monster storm
Updated Oct. 8, 2024, 8:12 PM GMT+5
Biden postpones trip to Germany and Angola ahead of Hurricane Milton hitting Florida
President Joe Biden has postponed his overseas trip this week because of Hurricane Milton, according to two sources familiar with the planning.
Biden was scheduled to depart for Berlin on Thursday and then travel to Angola, returning to the U.S. on Oct. 15. It would mark the first time Biden would travel to Africa as president.
“Given the projected trajectory and strength of Hurricane Milton, President Biden is postponing his upcoming trip to Germany and Angola in order to oversee preparations for and the response to Hurricane Milton, in addition to the ongoing response to the impacts of Hurricane Helene across the Southeast,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
Hurricane Milton, which forecasters say is an "extremely powerful hurricane," is expected to roar into Florida tomorrow.
With the threat of back-to-back hurricanes looming in parts of the state, crews are scrambling to haul away Hurricane Helene's debris before Milton makes landfall.
Milton appears headed for Tampa, where the National Hurricane Center is warning of up to 15 feet of storm surge.
At 8 a.m. ET, the storm was about 545 miles southwest of Tampa, moving at 12 mph, with sustained winds of 145 mph, making it a Category 4 storm, the second-highest rating.
Earlier, the storm rapidly intensified into a Category 5 hurricane, part of a climate change-fueled trend.
With emergencies declared in dozens of Florida counties and evacuations underway, residents have clogged highways and interstates as they make their way out of the storm's path
NBC News Lite, a lightweight version of NBCNews.com available in emergency situations when internet connectivity may be limited, has been turned on for readers in Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee.