As a potentially devastating Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida’s Gulf coast, both the Tampa and Orlando airports have announced they will be shutting down commercial operations ahead of the storm’s landfall.

The last time the eye of a major storm like Hurricane Milton directly struck Tampa Bay was 1921 when the city was a sleepy backwater.

Less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene flooded Tampa Bay with record storm surge, Milton is poised to up the ante. The most recent forecasts predict up to 10 to 15 feet of flooding above ground in parts of the region – up from an earlier prediction 8 to 12 feet,