Hurricane Milton is continuing to rapidly intensify before its expected landfall along Florida’s Gulf Coast sometime Wednesday. The National Hurricane Center on Monday issued a hurricane watch for a stretch of the coastline including Tampa Bay, which remained roughly in the middle of the forecast cone.

As the booming region faces the possibility of a direct hit from a major hurricane, the risks from storm surge are severe.

People across Florida were warned that Milton could rapidly intensify into a major hurricane before slamming into the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast midweek.