TAMPA, Florida — Floridians on Wednesday had one final day to evacuate or hunker down ahead of the Category 5 Hurricane Milton, potentially one of the most destructive ever to hit the Gulf Coast of Florida.

With more than one million people in coastal areas under evacuation orders, those fleeing for higher ground clogged highways and gas stations ran out of fuel, further rattling a region still recovering from the devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago.

The storm was on a collision course for the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, home to more than three million people, though forecasters said the path could vary before the storm makes landfall late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.

The storm is on a rare west-to-east path through the Gulf of Mexico and is likely to bring a deadly storm surge of 10 feet (3 meters) or more to much of Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Officials from US President Joseph R. Biden to Tampa Mayor Jane Castor warned people in evacuation zones to get out or risk death.

Michael Tylenda, who was visiting his son in Tampa, said he was heeding that advice.

“If anybody knows anything about Florida, when you don’t evacuate when you’re ordered to, you can pretty much die,” Mr. Tylenda said. “They’ve had a lot of people here stay at their homes and they end up drowning. It’s just not worth it. You know, the house can be replaced. The stuff can be replaced. So it’s just better to get out of town.”

Milton packed maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (260 kph), the US National Hurricane Center said, putting it at the highest level on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale.

While wind speeds could drop and downgrade Milton to a lesser category, the size of the storm was growing, putting ever more coastal areas in danger.

At 10 p.m. CDT (0300 GMT), the eye of the storm was 405 miles (650 km) southwest of Tampa, moving northeast at 12 mph (19 kph).

Milton was expected to maintain hurricane strength as it crosses the Florida peninsula, posing storm surge danger on the state’s Atlantic Coast as well.

About 2.8% of US gross domestic product is in the direct path of Milton, said Ryan Sweet, chief US economist at Oxford Economics. Airlines, energy firms and a Universal Studios theme park were among the companies beginning to halt their Florida operations as they braced for disruptions.

Milton became the third-fastest intensifying storm on record in the Atlantic, growing from a Category 1 to a Category 5 in less than 24 hours.

“These extremely warm sea surface temperatures provide the fuel necessary for the rapid intensification that we saw taking place to occur,” said climate scientist Daniel Gilford of Climate Central, a nonprofit research group. “We know that as human beings increase the amount of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, largely by burning fossil fuels, we are increasing that temperature all around the planet.”

More than a dozen coastal counties issued mandatory evacuation orders, including Tampa’s Hillsborough County. Pinellas County, which includes St. Petersburg, ordered the evacuation of more than 500,000 people. Lee County said 416,000 people lived in its mandatory evacuation zones.

Mobile homes, nursing homes and assisted living facilities also faced mandatory evacuation.

In Fort Myers, mobile home-dweller Jamie Watts and his wife took refuge in a hotel after losing their previous trailer to Hurricane Ian in 2022.

“My wife’s happy. We’re not in that tin can,” Mr. Watts said.

“We stayed during Ian and literally watched my roof tear off my house and it put a turmoil in us. So this time I’m going to be a little safer,” he said.

Bumper-to-bumper traffic choked roads leading out of Tampa on Tuesday, when about 17% of Florida’s nearly 8,000 gas stations had run out of fuel, according to fuel markets tracker GasBuddy. — Reuters

VIENTIANE, Laos — Southeast Asian leaders met in Laos on Wednesday for a summit expected to find ways of tackling a worsening civil war in Myanmar, with Thailand set to propose a new path for a political solution after a regional peace effort made scant progress.

Chaos has prevailed in Myanmar since a 2021 military coup sparked a nationwide rebellion and a civil war that has ravaged the nation of 55 million. The ruling junta has so far refused to hold talks with its opponents, whom it calls terrorists.

Thailand offered this week to host an “informal consultation” of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in December to try to find a way out of the intractable conflict that has displaced millions of people.

“We want to see a political solution,” Nikorndej Balankura, a spokesperson of Thailand’s foreign ministry, told reporters.

“Thailand is ready to coordinate with all other member countries so there would be a concerted ASEAN effort that could lead to peace in Myanmar.”

Thailand’s initiative would complement existing ASEAN peace efforts, but may not immediately involve countries beyond the region, he added.

The proposal, floated at Tuesday’s meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers, comes as the bloc runs low on options to tackle the Myanmar crisis.

There has been no progress on its “Five-Point Consensus” peace plan unveiled months after the coup, or a drive by Indonesia to persuade anti-junta groups to start dialogue.

In previous months, Thailand has suggested that Myanmar’s other influential neighbors, China and India, might play a role in the peace effort, but the latest plan is limited to the ASEAN bloc.

Any decision on whether Myanmar’s ruling generals or their opponents would be invited to the informal talks would be up to ASEAN chair Laos and the other member states, Mr. Nikorndej added.

‘VIRTUALLY ZERO PROGRESS’
Myanmar’s civil war and troubles in the disputed South China Sea are key issues set to dominate the ASEAN leaders’ meeting in Vientiane, which will be followed by two days of summits with premiers and top diplomats from regional and world powers.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese premier Shigeru Ishiba, Chinese premier Li Qiang and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are among those set to attend.

Opening Wednesday’s summit, Laos Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone said ASEAN faced many challenges and had its own ways to tackle them.

“Laos deems that ASEAN’s past successes are due to our understanding of among each other,” he said. “We help each other, and co-operate with each other, with an ASEAN way and principles. “

Ahead of Mr. Blinken’s trip, the United States’ top diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink, told reporters there had been “virtually zero progress” in efforts to get Myanmar’s junta to reduce violence, free political prisoners and talk to the democratic opposition. 

“The secretary will continue to emphasize to partners in the region that we must keep up pressure on the regime,” he said, of Mr. Blinken’s visit.

Since ASEAN has barred the Myanmar generals from its summits until they can meet requirements of the peace plan, the country is represented in Laos by a senior foreign ministry official.

Mr. Nikorndej said Myanmar’s representative urged ASEAN foreign ministers on Tuesday to understand and sympathize with the military government and use more “moderate language” in discussing the crisis.

ASEAN must not bend to accommodate the junta’s demands, including recognizing its own five-step “roadmap” for what is expected to be a one-sided election, however, former Thai diplomat Korbsak Chutikul warned.

“Care must be exercised not to be roped into going along with Myanmar’s own five-point plan, like to hold elections next year for a semblance of legitimacy,” Mr. Korbsak added. — Reuters

TAIPEI — Most Taiwanese believe China is unlikely to invade in the coming five years but do see Beijing as a serious threat to the democratic island, a poll by Taiwan’s top military think tank showed on Wednesday.

Over the past five years or so, China’s military has significantly ramped up its activities around Taiwan, which Beijing views as its own territory over the strong objections of the government in Taipei, and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.

The survey of around 1,200 people conducted last month by the Institute for National Defence and Security Research showed 61% of people think it was “unlikely or very unlikely” that China would attack Taiwan in the coming five years.

“Most people do not think China’s territorial ambitions will manifest themselves in the form of attacking Taiwan,” said Christina Chen, an INDSR researcher.

Taiwan’s people are also concerned about other Chinese threats, including military drills and propaganda campaigns, she said.

“Most people see China’s territorial ambitions as a serious threat,” Ms. Chen said.

The poll presents a contrast to a warning by the head of US Central Intelligence Agency, who said last year that Chinese President Xi Jinping had ordered his military to be ready to conduct an invasion of Taiwan by 2027.

“That means Taiwanese people are aware of the threat but remain calm and rational with the expectations of an imminent war,” the INDSR said.

More than 67% of respondents to the poll said they would fight back if China attacked, but were split almost evenly on whether Taiwan’s armed forces were capable of defending the island, half expressing confidence and half no confidence.

Lee Kuan-chen, another INDSR researcher, said Taiwan’s military should continue to boost its defense capacity to build public trust.

The poll also showed a split in opinion on whether the United States would help defend Taiwan.

While some 74% believed the US government was likely to “indirectly” help Taiwan by providing food, medical supplies and weapons, only 52% thought the US military would dispatch its armed forces to intervene, the poll showed.

Lee said Taiwan’s government should be more transparent about Taiwan-U.S. security cooperation.

“That way, people will not have expectations that are too high or too low on U.S. assistance,” Lee said.

U.S. President Joe Biden has upset the Chinese government with comments that appeared to suggest the United States would defend Taiwan if it were attacked, a deviation from a long-held U.S. position of “strategic ambiguity”. — Reuters