(NEXSTAR) – Video taken from the International Space Station puts the massive size of Hurricane Milton into perspective.
The video, shared by NASA on Wednesday, was taken as the International Space Station passed over the churning storm. Hundreds of miles over the storm, the hurricane’s thick wall of clouds and tight spiral are even more impressive.
Churning over the Gulf, Milton was just hours from making landfall Wednesday afternoon as it picked up speed on its way to Florida.
The center said the hurricane was “growing in size” as it approached Florida’s west coast. It said “life threatening storm surge” and “damaging winds” were both still expected. At 2 p.m., the storm was about 150 miles from Tampa, the National Hurricane Center said. It had maximum sustained winds of 130 mph, placing it at the low end of a Category 4 hurricane.
However, the center warned it remained a very powerful storm capable of major damage.
The storm was projected to make landfall much earlier than originally anticipated, around 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
“It’s looking like the storm of the century,” President Joe Biden said during a Wednesday briefing.
Emergency officials warned of dangerous hurricane-force winds, widespread power outages and storm surge higher than a single-story home.
Although evacuating can be difficult, Biden urged residents to listen to local officials, calling it “literally a matter of life and death.”
“Where you are now is where you are going to be during the duration of Milton,” said the Manatee County chief of emergency management, Matt Myers. “The conditions are rapidly getting worse.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.