Hurricane Milton regains Category 5 intensity, forcing Americans to evacuate

NEW YORK, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Hurricane Milton intensified again to Category 5 on Tuesday afternoon following a short weakening to Category 4 on Monday night.

With 165 miles per hour of maximum sustained wind speed Tuesday afternoon, the hurricane could be the worst storm system to hit the U.S. state of Florida in over 100 years.

Hurricane Milton had strong wind gusts with speed topping 200 miles per hour on Monday, which led to calls for a new designation of Category 6.

More than five million residents in Florida's western coast were urged to evacuate ahead of landfall of the hurricane on Wednesday night or early Thursday.

More than 20 counties in Florida issued mandatory and voluntary evacuation orders and officials uttered out dire warnings to those under evacuation orders.

"If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas... you're gonna die," warned Jane Castor, mayor of Tampa.

There will likely not be enough time to leave on Wednesday and Milton is expected to remain a hurricane as it crosses the Florida Peninsula with life-threatening winds, according to the latest advisory of the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

It was reported that local highways were jammed on Monday as people tried to flee the area of possible landfall.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday approved the declaration of emergency in Florida which is still recovering from the impacts of Hurricane Helene.