We just got about a life-threatening hurricane set to take a direct hit at Florida this week.

Hurricane Milton just strengthening to an extremely powerful Category 5 storm right now.

Florida's Gulf Coast now in the bullseye, with Milton expected to make landfall on Wednesday near the Tampa metro area.

And to be clear, this hurricane is a monster, now with winds up to 160 miles per hour, with a life-threatening storm surge expected when it does in fact hit.

A storm of this strength has not hit the U.S. mainland in years.

This comes just weeks after Hurricane Helene battered this same region.

We want to go to Dana Griffin now, who's standing by in Naples, Florida.

No evacuation orders there in place just yet where you are, Dana, but what are residents being asked to prepare for?

Vicky Morgan, good to be with you.

They are being told to pay attention to potential evacuation warnings, which could come at any moment.

We are here at the beach in Naples, and you can actually see some people behind me.

You've got families.

We've seen several people show up to the beach, getting into the water, possibly trying to take this in, enjoy it before that storm comes ashore.

This is why it's so important to pay attention, because right now this is a very large cone of uncertainty, which means that that storm, that hurricane could hit anywhere in Florida and could potentially cause life-threatening conditions, including storm surge up to 15 feet.

And the best way to survive those storm surges is to not be there when it happens.

We are here on the Naples pier, which was destroyed in 2022 by Hurricane Ian.

Just behind me, you can see half of this pier is now missing.

That's just how violent that storm was and how much damage was caused.

So that's why we're here, because it's important to remember how much damage can be caused by these storms.

Debris is one of the major issues.

A lot of it's still lying in residential areas from Hurricane Helene.

Governor Ron DeSantis already said in the last 24 hours, they've been able to move about 500 truckloads of debris, but this is such a dire situation.

They are now asking people to take that debris themselves to the landfill to try to get as much of it out of the area, because when you get whipping winds, that debris can turn into projectiles.

And that is why this is a very serious situation.

This is a life-threatening storm.

So it's so important to pay attention to your evacuation zones.

Start preparing now, because this could come as late as Wednesday, early Thursday, which means now is the time to prepare.

We've seen some people around town boarding up windows.

I actually ran into a woman who found some sand on the side of the street, because she said they had all ran out.

And so she said that this was a last-ditch effort to try to get some sand so that she can try to shore up her home to protect it from the storm that is going to come through and possibly cause catastrophic flooding.

We are seeing people that are just coming out here trying to get a sense of what conditions are like.

It is very rainy right now.

This is not even the outer bands of Milton.

So this just shows that we've already got so much rain.

The ground is already saturated.

And when you get more rain and wind coming ashore, it is going to make this a very dire situation.

And again, as you can see, people showing up to this beach, casually walking, enjoying the water before Milton rears its ugly head toward the state.

Yeah, it's really interesting, Dana, that you show us those people sort of going to the beach because there were a lot of people who were up and down the Florida coast after Helene, who said they regretted not heeding those evacuation orders.

If you can, Dana, just stay there with us.

I want to go to Bill Cairns, who joins us now in the studio.

Bill, sort of give us the scientific 40,000-foot view.

Who exactly is in the thick of this right now?

And if we look just sort of putting one foot in front of the other, what do the next 60 minutes look like?

Yeah, well, this storm is rapidly intensive.

I guess it could go up a little bit in the next hour, say, but it increased 100 miles per hour in 24 hours.

That's only happened once before in our recorded history.

So Milton is, you know, at the upper echelons of rapid intensification.

Now, the Hurricane Center forecast does not have it hitting Florida as a Category 5, not even a 4.

They have it as a Category 3, still a major hurricane.

We always say prepare for one worse.

That would be a 4.

And the difference with this storm than Helene, Helene made landfall in a relatively unpopulated area.

This is targeting a heavily populated forecast.

On the Florida West Coast, from Tampa all the way to Sarasota, possibly the Fort Myers area.

This is a region that has been hit by numerous hurricanes in past years.

Helene had a record storm surge in that area.

So it has all sorts of problems because of those complications.

Our computer models, the Hurricane Center has said they don't believe that these Southern models will probably be right.

They're believing that they're closer with the ones that are heading towards Tampa.

This black line is the Hurricane Center.

And the timing on this would be late Wednesday for a possible landfall.

And what we're doing now with a stronger storm and keeping it strong through the I-4 corridor is possibly taking a Category 1 or 2 hurricane along I-4 through the Orlando area, and then off of Volusia County.

This is the most populated corridor here in Central Florida.

And that's exactly where Milton is expected to go.

Of course, the storm surge will be the number one life-threatening issue with this storm.

Not like Helene in the mountains with the rainfall.

This will be storm surge extreme wherever it makes landfall south.

The northern portion of it will be blowing the tide out and blowing the storm surge out.

And if we get this towards that high tide at 6 a.m.

Thursday morning, that would make it even worse.

So eight to 12 feet, that could even increase this once we get a little closer into that forecast.

But again, we were about six to seven feet of storm surge.

That was record-breaking with Helene.

And you saw the piles of damage all up and down the streets.

So you can imagine adding another four to possibly six feet on top of that.

So we have a significant amount of new damage that is likely wherever we get that landfall south with this storm.

Well, of course, we're also gonna get that extreme wind damage.

Right now, we're saying Pinellas County, that's where the hurricane center is.

But we got wiggle room.

I mean, we're still over 48 hours away, and the average forecast air for landfall is easily 50 to 70 miles this far out.

So we still have about two days to narrow this down, but another devastating hurricane is guaranteed.

Bill Cairns, let's keep you there.

Thank you for that on the forecast.

I wanna bring in Jesse Kirsch now, who's standing by live in Sarasota, Florida, and Jesse, you were just in Perry, Florida for Helene.

What's the situation there in Sarasota as you're hearing Bill talking about the track of this storm and the threat is really from the storm surge?

Yeah, Vicky, I can tell you that there are stretches of this community that are still frankly a mess in the aftermath of Helene, and we're gonna step out of frame here and show you a perfect example of that.

The harbor master here tells us that boat is part of the damage left over from Hurricane Helene.

Less than two weeks ago, it made landfall.

And that gives you an idea of the destructive power of these storms, but it also reminds us what is still left behind.

So imagine that boat is already in bad shape.

Who knows what will happen if we take a direct hit here in Sarasota.

I've been driving through neighborhoods.

Our team has been driving throughout this area, and we are still seeing piles of debris as if people are essentially having yard sales.

And all of that is still out there, and we still have a couple of days to go.

But remember, people are trying to get supplies like water.

We're seeing water run out.

People are trying to back up their homes.

And on top of that, there's all that stuff which could be blowing around, guys.

And Jesse, again, reiterating, this is now a Category 5 hurricane.

As we heard Bill Cairns mention, it's really the rapid intensification of this storm.

What have you seen in sort of the difference of preparation there, just briefly, with about 20 seconds left?

There are a couple of things going on here.

We've seen some people who are getting merchandise out of their businesses, but are not as focused about the business itself because they already have water damage.

That's the kind of thing we're seeing.

Jesse, thank you so much.

And that concludes this special report.

We'll have much more ahead on NBC News Daily.

Stay with us.

Thanks for watching.

Stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us on social media.