Hurricane Milton passes over Florida's tourism heartland

A National Hurricane Center update at 4am local time showed the centre of the hurricane nearing Cape Canaveral, with “strong winds” spreading along Florida’s east coast and in the Orlando area.

The coastal strip in the path of the hurricane contains Melbourne International airport, used by Tui, as well as the Kennedy Space Centre, and there are storm surge warnings in place predicting surges of up to six feet.

The National Weather Service said it was “an extremely life-threatening situation” and told residents to evacuate if ordered.

Milton first made landfall just south of Sarasota on the west coast as a category four hurricane but has been downgraded to category one. Emergency workers say the main threat is now that of flash flooding and intense rainfall rather than high winds.

Tampa, Orlando and Melbourne airports remain closed, but Miami, away from the path of the storm, is functioning. Florida governor Ron DeSantis has said Tampa airport suffered minimal damage and is expected to reopen on Friday.

The devastation caused will become more apparent when the sun rises in Florida at around 12.30pm UK time, but initial reports say fatalities are expected, more than three million are without power and St Petersburg is without drinking water.

Tui, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have all cancelled flights to the area until at least tomorrow.