Residents are bracing for the worst and many being forced to evacuate as Hurricane Ian barrels towards Florida.
On Monday September 26, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) upgraded Tropical Storm Ian to hurricane status, and is expected to hit Florida's west coast as early as Tuesday
Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state wide state of emergency and many residents are being evacuated.
Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued for parts of Hillsborough and Manatee counties with storm shelters opening from 2pm Monday.
Manatee County Administrator Scott Hopes said: "We’re expecting sustained tropical or hurricane winds to our barrier islands and coastal communities for as long as 48 hours, with the earliest arrival predicted for 8 p.m. Tuesday.
"This is a worst-case scenario with a very strong slow-moving storm just to the west of us.”
Governor DeSantis urged residents to prepare for heavy rains, high winds and rising seas.
He said: "We're going to keep monitoring the track of this storm but it really is important to stress the degree of uncertainty that still exists." and warned "even if you're not necessarily right in the eye of the path of the storm, there's going to be pretty broad impacts throughout the state."
Although the exact point of landfall is unclear, CBS News meteorologist David Parkinson said the forecasting models suggest "a certain amount of storm surge destruction" in and around Tampa Bay appeared "nearly baked in at this point".
Residents along the Tampa Bay coast are bracing for the storm, packing sandbags and stocking up on petrol and groceries. They have been warned of potential power outages
DeSantis warned, the storm poses risk of "dangerous storm surge, heavy rainfall, flash flooding, strong winds, hazardous seas, and isolated tornadic activity for Florida's Peninsula and portions of the Florida Big Bend, North Florida, and Northeast Florida".
He encouraged all Floridians "to make their preparations."
One woman told CBS: "I tried to get water, but it's no more.
"Not too much at this moment."
President Biden has declared an emergency authorising federal disaster relief and cancelling a scheduled September 27 trip to Florida.
Near Tampa people were waiting in line at Home Depot when it opened at 6 am, the Tampa Bay Times reported. The manager said said the store had sold 600 cases of water by the early afternoon and ran out of generators.