Tampa, with a metropolitan area that is home to over 3 million people, has not had a direct hit by a major hurricane in more than 100 years.

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.

Hurricane Milton has become a Category 5 storm—again—and is moving across the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida, where millions have been told to evacuate as forecasters warn it could be be “one of the most destructive hurricanes on record” for the west-central part of the state.