TAMPA, United States (AFP) — US President Joe Biden has begged Florida residents to flee Hurricane “Milton,” warning that the Category 5 storm could turn into the worst natural disaster to hit the state in a century.

As the second huge hurricane in as many weeks rumbled toward Florida’s west coast, people raced to board up homes and flee.

“It’s a matter of life and death, and that’s not hyperbole,” Biden said from the White House on Tuesday, urging those under orders to leave to “evacuate now, now, now.”

As of Tuesday, “Milton” returned to the maximum Category 5 designation, generating maximum sustained winds of 270 kilometers per hour, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

“Fluctuations in intensity are likely while “Milton” moves across the eastern Gulf of Mexico, but “Milton” is expected to be a dangerous major hurricane when it reaches the west-central coast of Florida Wednesday night,” the NHC said.

Governor Ron DeSantis, at a news conference, ticked off town after town in danger.

“Basically the entire peninsula portion of Florida is under some type of either a watch or a warning,” he said.

Airlines put on extra flights out of Tampa, Orlando, Fort Myers and Sarasota, as highways clogged up with escaping traffic and gas stations sold out of fuel.

Hurricane expert Michael Lowry warned that in the Tampa area, home to about three million people, Milton’s storm surge “could double the storm surge levels observed two weeks ago during Helene,” which brought massive flooding.