*

Category 4 hurricane due to hit Florida's west coast late

Wednesday

*

Size and rare path of storm pose extreme danger from storm

surge

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Traffic jams and fuel shortages as thousands flee coastal

zone

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Biden and Harris to receive storm briefing at noon

(Updates storm location, strength, paragraphs 7-8; adds

hospital closures, paragraph 28)

By Leonora LaPeter Anton and Brad Brooks

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida, Oct 9 (Reuters) - An expanding

Hurricane Milton closed in on Florida's west coast on Wednesday,

spawning tornados and lashing the region with rain and wind

hours ahead of its expected landfall near Tampa Bay, where it

could deliver a life-threatening surge of seawater to waterfront

communities already battered by Hurricane Helene.

Millions of people along a stretch of more than 300 miles

(483 km) of coastline were under evacuation orders, just two

weeks after Helene cut a swath of devastation. Authorities

issued increasingly dire warnings on Wednesday as landfall,

expected at about midnight, drew closer.

Sarasota County Emergency Management Chief Sandra

Tapfumaneyi said people who remain on the barrier islands in her

county south of Tampa would likely not survive the projected 10-

to 15-foot storm surge.

"If you choose to stay, make sure you have a life preserver

handy," she said during a CNN appearance.

Fueled by unusually warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, the

storm was on a collision course to hit the Tampa Bay

metropolitan area, home to more than 3 million people. At 2 p.m.

ET (1800 GMT), the eye of the storm was 150 miles (241 km)

southwest of Tampa.

While Milton slightly weakened on Wednesday morning to a

Category 4, the second-highest level, it was growing in size as

it approached Florida and remained "an extremely dangerous major

hurricane" with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (209 kph),

the National Hurricane Center said.

Milton was expected to maintain hurricane strength as it

crossed the Florida peninsula, posing storm-surge danger on the

state's Atlantic Coast as well.

The National Weather Service confirmed at least five

tornadoes in South Florida had touched down by early afternoon.

The four bridges spanning Tampa Bay were closed before the

storm was due to make landfall, according to the Florida 511

website. Nearly everyone who decided to flee appeared to have

done so, as most streets in nearby St. Petersburg were nearly

deserted by midday on Wednesday.

Most causeways connecting the Gulf barrier islands to the

mainland were also shut, stranding any who decided to ride out

the storm despite pleas from officials.

In the parking lot of a Walmart ( WMT ) in south St. Petersburg

Wednesday morning, Henry Henry waited in a black van to shuttle

passengers to a Tampa shelter before Milton's arrival. But no

one showed up.

"I don't believe people are waiting for the last moment

today," said Henry, as rain hammered the shuttle's roof. "Most

people have already evacuated. They are not waiting for it."

In Orlando, many residents said they had confidently ridden

out previous hurricanes, but Milton's rapid intensification and

warnings from officials spurred them into taking unusual

precautions for the inland city.

Jim Naginey, a 61-year-old homeless man who has lived there

for nearly three decades, said he survived previous hurricanes

on the streets. But he decided to seek shelter during Milton,

joining scores of others in Colonial High School, where families

huddled on the gym floor, munching on bananas and sandwiches and

sipping water provided by Orange County.

"This one seems different," Naginey said. "After seeing what

happened last week in North Carolina, it seems that unexpected

disaster can hit in places not used to it. That's why I decided

to seek shelter here."

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris urged

residents to follow local officials' safety recommendations at a

White House briefing.

"It's literally a matter of life and death," Biden said.

EMERGENCY PREPARATIONS

Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency

Management Agency, said she would travel to Florida on Wednesday

and remain there after the storm to help coordinate recovery

efforts.

FEMA has moved millions of liters of water, millions of

meals and other supplies and personnel into the area. None of

the additional aid will detract from recovery efforts for

Hurricane Helene, she said.

"I want people to hear from me directly, FEMA is ready," she

said.

Trucks have been running 24 hours a day to clear mounds of

debris left behind by Helene before Milton potentially turns

them into dangerous projectiles, DeSantis said.

About 2.8% of U.S. gross domestic product is in the direct

path of Milton, said Ryan Sweet, chief U.S. economist at Oxford

Economics. Airlines and energy firms were among the companies

beginning to halt their Florida operations as they braced for

disruptions.

Major Florida theme parks shuttered ahead of the storm, with

Disney World, Universal Studios and SeaWorld all closing their

doors later on Wednesday.

Nineteen hospitals were evacuated, the Florida Hospital

Association said. Mobile homes, nursing homes and

assisted-living facilities faced mandatory evacuation.

In Fort Myers, mobile-home resident Jamie Watts and his wife

took refuge from Milton in a hotel after losing their previous

trailer to Hurricane Ian in 2022.

"My wife's happy. We're not in that tin can," Watts said.

"We stayed during Ian and literally watched my roof tear off

my house," he added. "So this time I'm going to be a little

safer."

Milton became the third-fastest intensifying storm on record

in the Atlantic, growing from a Category 1 to a Category 5 in

less than 24 hours.

"These extremely warm sea surface temperatures provide the

fuel necessary for the rapid intensification that we saw taking

place to occur," said climate scientist Daniel Gilford of

Climate Central, a nonprofit research group. "We know that as

human beings increase the amount of greenhouse gases in the

atmosphere, largely by burning fossil fuels, we are increasing

that temperature all around the planet."