Monster storm makes landfall near Siesta Key, Florida

Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, the National Hurricane Center said at 8:30 p.m

The huge storm's eyewall previously began moving onshore near Tampa and St. Petersburg. Life-threatening rain, storm surge and wind preceded the center's landfall and will continue, the National Hurricane Center said.

Siesta Key is a barrier island next to Sarasota. The storm made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 120 miles per hour, the agency said.

The federal government approved an emergency declaration before Milton's landfall, with “thousands of federal personnel on the ground” ready to respond, Biden said.

At a briefing, Biden said that at his direction, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had positioned search and rescue teams, helicopters and high-speed watercraft “as close to the storm as possible so they would be ready for life-saving missions.”

The director of FEMA will also be at Florida's emergency operations center, and the federal government has 20 million meals and 40 million liters of water ready, Biden said.

Hurricane Milton “still has incredible destructive power, capable of wiping out communities and leading to loss of life,” Biden said.

The storm surge is still expected to reach up to 13 feet, he said in a news conference, urging people to listen to local authorities and follow all their safety instructions.