Update | Hurricane Milton makes landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm

TAMPA, Florida (AP) — Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday along Florida's Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm, bringing powerful winds, deadly storm surge and potential flooding to much of the state. Milton drew fuel from exceedingly warm Gulf of Mexico waters, twice reaching Category 5 status.

The cyclone had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (205 kph) as it roared ashore near Siesta Key in Sarasota County, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said. The storm was bringing deadly storm surge to much of Florida's Gulf Coast, including densely populated areas such as Tampa, St Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers.

Heavy rains were also likely to cause flooding inland along rivers and lakes as Milton traverses the Florida peninsula as a hurricane, eventually to emerge in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday.

Milton slammed into a Florida region still reeling from Hurricane Helene, which caused heavy damage to beach communities with storm surge and killed a dozen people in seaside Pinellas County alone.

Earlier, officials issued dire warnings to flee or face grim odds of survival.

"This is it, folks," said Cathie Perkins, emergency management director in Pinellas County, which sits on the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay. "Those of you who were punched during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out, and you need to get out now."

By late afternoon, some officials said the time had passed for such efforts. By the evening, some counties announced they has suspended emergency services.

"Unless you really have a good reason to leave at this point, we suggest you just hunker down," Polk County Emergency Management Director Paul Womble said in a public update.

Multiple tornadoes spawned by the hurricane tore across Florida, the twisters acting as a dangerous harbingers of Milton's approach. Videos posted to social media sites showed large funnel clouds over neighbourhoods in Palm Beach County and elsewhere in the state.

Milton, which has fluctuated in intensity as it approached Florida, was a Category 3 hurricane Wednesday evening. It was expected to remain a hurricane after hitting land and ploughing across the state, including the heavily populated Orlando area, through Thursday.

Tampa Bay, near the top of a long stretch of coastline that could be in the bull's-eye, has not taken a direct hit from a major hurricane in more than a century.

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