Storm expected to reach Category 5 as Florida orders evacuations

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will head to New Orleans tomorrow, well ahead of their Week 6 game against the host Saints. the NFL club announced.

NFL teams typically travel to away games a day or two before kickoff.

But with Hurricane Milton quickly heading toward Tampa, the Bucs have decided to move their weekly game preparation to New Orleans, where they will play the Saints on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Tampa International Airport officials announced that they will be suspending “all commercial and cargo operations” at 9 a.m. tomorrow and the airport will remain “closed to the public until any post-storm damage can be assessed.”

According to a statement from the airport, Hurricane Milton has the potential to “bring catastrophic storm surge, strong winds and heavy rain to Tampa Bay and throughout Florida's Gulf Coast.”

The state's fourth-busiest airport “expects to reopen following a damage assessment that will begin as soon as it is safe to do so,” the airport said.

Major airlines such as Alaska, American, Delta, Frontier, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit, United and Virgin Atlantic offer flights from Tampa.

Hillsborough County has ordered a mandatory evacuation for Evacuation Zones A and B for all mobile homes and manufactured homes beginning at 2:30 p.m. today. These residents should be in a safe place by 7 a.m. Wednesday. Nine emergency shelters will open in mandatory evacuation zones.

Sarasota County also called for evacuations today for people in Tiers A and B (including barrier islands) and those in mobile or manufactured homes. Those living in Level C “should be prepared to evacuate if the storm intensifies.”

In the coastal town of Anna Maria, south of Tampa, the obligatory order begins around noon. Pinellas County has begun mandatory evacuation of long-term care facilities.

The National Hurricane Center said Milton is expected to make landfall in Florida on Wednesday afternoon as a Category 3 hurricane. NBC News' Jesse Kirsch reports on how debris left over from Hurricane Helene could become a hazard in Milton's high winds.