Officials in Tampa urged residents to move electric vehicles, including e-bikes, wheelchairs and golf carts, out of the way of storm surge and floodwaters. They warned that electric vehicles had caused three dozen fires in Hillsborough County, where Tampa is, during Hurricane Helene last month.

Milton, a top-tier Category 5 hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico, is intensifying at near-record speed as it churns toward the west coast of Florida. The storm is expected to make landfall Wednesday or early Thursday as a “large and powerful hurricane,

Florida officials implored Gulf Coast residents to follow evacuation orders and utilities prepared for widespread power outages as Hurricane Milton strengthened into a Category 5 storm Monday.