Residents in Florida have been warned to evacuate or ‘you will die’ as the US state braces for the worst storm in more than a century.

US President Joe Biden has cancelled a planned trip to Germany and Angola to prepare for the storm – while his engagements with Taoiseach Simon Harris in Washington have been significantly scaled back.

"This could be the worst storm to hit Florida in over a century, and God-willing it won't be, but it's looking like that right now," President Biden said.

“I just don't think I can be out of the country at this time.”

Florida Governor Ron De Santis yesterday warned people that time was running out to evacuate as he declared a state of emergency for some of the worst affected areas.

Parts of Georgia have also been declared emergency areas.

“This is the real deal here with Milton,” Tampa mayor Jane Castor told a news conference on Monday.

“If you want to take on Mother Nature, she wins 100% of the time.”

In an interview with CNN, Mayor Castor was even more blunt.

“I can say without any dramatization whatsoever – if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you're going to die.”

Meanwhile, state workers are rushing to clear debris from Hurricane Helene amid fears it could become lethal when the winds of Milton hit.

'Once-in-a-century'

Such is the power of Hurricane Milton that, despite forecasters expecting it to weaken before landfall, it could land a once-in-a-century hit on the cities of Tampa and St Petersburg, engulfing the regions with possibly deadly storm surges.

Amid the warnings from state officials, federal authorities are also readying their response to the hurricane.

White House spokesperson Emilie Simons said the Biden administration has established two staging bases stocked with 20 million meals and 40 million litres of water and has nearly 900 staff members in the region.

Forecasters are warning that the storm could bring eight to 12 -foot storm surges, leading to further possible evacuation orders being issued along the Gulf Coast.

Evacuation

A stream of vehicles headed north on Interstate 75, the main road on the west side of the peninsula, as residents followed evacuation orders.

Meanwhile, traffic clogged up the southbound lanes of the road for miles as others headed for the relative safety of Fort Lauderdale and Miami on the other side of the state.

By Tuesday afternoon, almost 700 flights had been cancelled, with that figure expected to rise as more than 1,500 flights scheduled for Wednesday were also cancelled, according to flight tracking data provider FlightAware.

Orlando International Airport, one of the busiest in the US, said it would close on Wednesday morning, while Tampa International said it was closed on Tuesday.

Hurricane Milton

The storm took experts by surprise in how quickly it intensified.

In less than two days, Hurricane Milton went from just forming a tropical storm with winds of 40mph to a chart-busting Category five hurricane - before getting even stronger with gusts said to be over 200mph.

After weakening to a Category four hurricane, the NHC said on Tuesday that Hurricane Milton had rebounded in intensity back to a Category five hurricane once more and was forecast to remain "extremely dangerous" until landfall even if it did weaken again.

Reporting from IRN and Michael Staines.