Biden urges Floridians to ‘evacuate now, now, now’ as Category 4 Hurricane Milton approaches

President Joe Biden warned Florida residents to heed evacuation orders and avoid being trapped as Hurricane Milton approaches the state, calling the storm potentiallythe worst to hit the Sunshine State in more than 100 years.

“If you’re under evacuation or orders, you should evacuate now, now, now. You should have already evacuated. It’s a matter of life and death,” he said while addressing reporters in the White House after receiving a briefing on preparations for the storm.

The president also said he has been advised by the National Weather Service that the storm has exhibited sustained winds of over 180 mph and could hit Florida with a storm surge — a wall of water driven by the hurricane winds — as high as 15 feet.

Biden added that Milton has the potential to hit the west coast of Florida as a hurricane and remain a hurricane after cutting a path across the entire state from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean.

“This could be the worst storm to hit Florida in over a century. God willing, it won’t be, but that’s what it’s looking like right now,” he said.

The news of Milton’s potential for severe damage to Florida comes within weeks of the state getting hit by Hurricane Helene.

Biden previously approved emergency declarations authorizing federal disaster resources to be expended in the response to the previous storm, and he told reporters that he also approved pre-landfall emergency declarations to permit more resources to be allocated for Milton.

The president said the Federal Emergency Management Agency has also allocated 300 ambulances to Florida to move people “who can’t move themselves” out of health care facilities, and he pledged that the federal response to the storms in Florida and other affected