Forecasters are urging people in Florida to make preparations or leave their homes today, as the National Hurricane Center confirmed that Milton is a "catastrophic Category 5 hurricane" and will hit Florida later today or early tomorrow as a major storm.

Residents braced for potentially catastrophic storm surge as state pounded by severe winds and heavy rain.   02:04 Footage coming in from the Tampa area as Hurricane Milton makes landfall shows the devastating consequences of what Joe Biden has called the “storm of the century”.