millions fled the path of the storm, some chose to stay behind. this point it is too dangerous to evacuate safely, so you have to evacuate safely, so you have to stay in place and hunker down. live in tampa, heavy rain and wind, even as the hurricane weakens. in the middle east authorities in lebanon say an israeli air strike has killed at least five health workers in the south of the country. here in the uk the government sets out details of its plan for new rights for workers in one of the biggest overhauls of employment law. and another 65 women have contacted the bbc with allegations against mohamed al fayed going back as far as the 1970s before his time at harrods.

hurricane milton has slammed into the western coast of florida with "a number of deaths" reported on the atlantic coast. these are live pictures from tampa. hurricane milton is currently passing south of orlando and has weakened to a category one storm since it made landfall. it is still carrying winds of more than 200 kilometres an hour. the storm ripped the roof off the tampa bay rays baseball stadium in saint petersburg. pieces of the non—retractable roof can be seen flapping in the wind. according to a local tv station, there were no reported injuries at the site. security camera video at a beach resort in fort myers clearly demonstrated the ferocity of the hurricane, the camera catching the bending trees, the lashing rain and the flooded roads. and a construction crane crashed into a building

spilling debris across the road in st petersburg, florida. the governor of florida, ron desantis, said the time for safe evacuation had passed. he warned people left behind that they shouldn't go outside until officials told them it was safe to do so. bridges have been closed because of fears of a four—metre high storm surge. before the hurricane made landfall, strong winds ripped up trees and damaged mobile homes. more than two million people and businesses have been left without power. let's get the latest now from our correspondent steve knibbs. hurricane milton made landfall with its full force and spread slowly across central florida. over the gulf of mexico, the storm showed its strength, ripping up waves nearly 30ft high. in st petersburg the roof was ripped open on a stadium set up to house thousands of emergency responders. milton was taking hold.

now at this point it's too dangerous to evacuate safely, so you have to shelter in place and just hunker down. but if you start to get in a situation where trees are snapping, power is popping, you do have to treat it like a tornado. tornadoes hit in several places. the sheriff's office in st lucie said that people there have died as a result. in fort myers earlier, some buildings were destroyed in an instant. these windows blew out. i was about probably right here when it happened. my cat over there on the desk, i grabbed the two dogs and like, run under my bed. that was it. probably, probably one minute total. across florida, hurricane milton's power intensified. strong winds, heavy rain battered the west coast, but it didn't stop some wanting to witness it first—hand. i've had a lot of anxiety over the night about it because it is my first hurricane. but, um, ijust wanted to see the water and, you know, get the whole

florida experience. tonight, the first images now coming in... the us news networks are following milton's progress closely. one broadcaster showed the potential impact of the rising tide. the water is expected to rise even higher at six feet above the height of most people. vehicles get carried away, structures start to fail, just look at this. and it's this and the strong winds combined that are causing the most concern. this is life—threatening inundation. that water is going to violently be pushed onto dry land by the winds associated with milton as it makes landfall this evening. the lethal effects of storm helene a fortnight ago were also worrying many, as milton takes hold here. just a few weeks ago in helene, we lost 11 or 12 people. all were in evacuation zones. and so our message has been, you know, for the last 48 hours to get to an evacuation zone if you're ordered to do so. so far, over a million people have lost power as milton wreaks its predicted havoc.

those still in the path of the storm can now only wait and hope. steve knibbs, bbc news. they are being advised to wait until they get the all clear. earlier we spoke to crystal who lives just north of tampa and decided to stay there. here she is describing what it was like when the storm hit. we lost power about 30 minutes before it made landfall and it made landfall about 30 miles south of where i am, so the wind started picking up after that. in our location the concern was the wind. we had a lot of the wind howling. the ring was pretty steady, and we are kind of used to rain. sorry, let me... we have already lost power. the rain was kind of steady so we had heavy rainfall and a lot of wind. you could hear transformers blowing as people

continued to lose electricity. later on we heard trees cracking, branches falling and we had two trees come down in our yard. we had two trees come down in ouryard. fortunately we had two trees come down in our yard. fortunately it was not towards the house, it was safely in the front yard. we saw the impact of the storm. crystal, who decided to stay put. while we were listening to her i can let you know that president zelensky has just arrived at downing street where he is meeting the prime minister, sir keir starmer. he is on a whirlwind tour of europe and the hope of getting permission to use us and uk long—range ballistic missiles within russia. this is a whirlwind tour that he has just arrived and we missed the shot because we were listening to crystal who decided to stay—at—home in tampa while hurricane milton is lashing through the region. we wanted to bring you up—to—date because we are monitoring a number

number of stories here. president zelensky is no meeting sir keir starmer. he is no doubt appealing for the use of uk long—range ballistic missiles and permission to use them within russian territory. we will keep you updated if we get any more on that. let's return to hurricane milton and the devastation it is causing throughout the region. with me is our weather presenter helen willets. obviously this is unique in the sense that of course it is hurricane season, but hurricane milton made landfall still as a hurricane stop put it into perspective for us.- hurricane stop put it into perspective for us. still as a ma'or perspective for us. still as a major hurricane _ perspective for us. still as a major hurricane and - perspective for us. still as a major hurricane and the - perspective for us. still as a l major hurricane and the third to hit florida this season. we had debbie and helenejust to hit florida this season. we had debbie and helene just a fortnight ago. it is fuelled by the warm waters over the gulf of mexico. between yesterday and today, last night when it hit, it doubled in size and cover the whole state of florida. most areas are seeing

at least some effects from milton. it made landfall as a major category three, so we are talking winds in excess of 100 miles an hour. we have had 18 inches of rain in saint petersburg in tampa bay and thatis petersburg in tampa bay and that is very reflective. so catastrophic flooding potentially and even though the storm has now been crossing florida right the way eastwards, just to the south of orlando it has maintained category one status. it is massive and covers the whole state of florida and is bringing rain into georgia and carolina. we have seen major flooding with debbie and helene prior to that at the end of the summer. it will not be many more hours before it moves out into the atlantic. however, even once it moves out into the

atlantic as a category one hurricane it has still got a lot of rain to give and it is still a hurricane, so there are still a hurricane, so there are still destructive winds around at the moment, causing devastation, and there is still the risk of further storm surges. it takes a long time for that water to recede and now we are going to get that storm surge on the east coast as well for several more hours. although it is moving quite quickly it is still packing a punch with the potential for more devastating, catastrophic events. ~ ., events. when we were looking at the satellite _ events. when we were looking at the satellite pictures _ events. when we were looking at the satellite pictures and - events. when we were looking at the satellite pictures and we - the satellite pictures and we saw the sheer size of it, how does milton compare to helene? we saw the devastation after that. �* , ,., , we saw the devastation after that. �* ,,., , ., .,, that. absolutely and helene was a big storm _ that. absolutely and helene was a big storm as — that. absolutely and helene was a big storm as well. _ that. absolutely and helene was a big storm as well. when - that. absolutely and helene was a big storm as well. when they. a big storm as well. when they are sitting over the gulf of mexico this is where they get their fuel.

they push the floodwaters in and that is what we saw with helene as well. they are still waking up before we see the full extent of what has happened. it we see the full extent of what has happened-— has happened. it is still re has happened. it is still pretty ferocious - has happened. it is still pretty ferocious there. | has happened. it is still - pretty ferocious there. help us to understand. it was a category five hurricane. it has now been reduced in the way we describe it. what is the description?— describe it. what is the descrition? ., ., description? how does that work? we _ description? how does that work? we classify - description? how does that work? we classify them - description? how does that. work? we classify them with description? how does that - work? we classify them with the wind speed. in terms of wind speed this is in the top ten, so it is massive anyway. if you look at the central pressure of the storm, how intense it is

and how strong the winds are, it is in the top five. a category one storm is still packing a punch of winds round about 90 miles an hour. when we talk about storms here in the uk we might occasionally get gusts like that, but those are regular gusts and it is crossing the entire state in a heavily populated part of the usa. 50 heavily populated part of the usa. , , ., usa. so it is still a hurricane? - usa. so it is still a hurricane? still. usa. so it is still a i hurricane? still very usa. so it is still a - hurricane? still very much usa. so it is still a _ hurricane? still very much down to category one and when you say it moves on land it will be reduced to a storm. it say it moves on land it will be reduced to a storm.— reduced to a storm. it will become — reduced to a storm. it will become a _ reduced to a storm. it will become a tropical- reduced to a storm. it will become a tropical storm l reduced to a storm. it will- become a tropical storm because it is moving over cooler waters. it has weakened on the land because you get the friction effects of the land and you have not got that moisture that you have over the gulf of mexico and it is slightly cooler over the atlantic waters and it will become tropical. even tropical storm force winds are 70 to 80 miles an hourand storm force winds are 70 to 80 miles an hour and when it was

category five it was in excess of 160 miles an hour. ferocious. extraordinary, those wind speeds. as always, thank you for talking us through that. our weather report there and lots more from the weather team and we will be getting updates from people on the ground as well. i want to take you back to that story in the uk and president zelensky of ukraine has arrived in downing street. wejust missed the pictures as he was arriving live it so we are showing you them now, what happened a few moments ago, because president zelensky is on a whistle—stop tour and he will be in the uk. there he is hugging sir keir starmer, a nice touch before going into number 10 downing street. he is in the uk and he will be in germany as well meeting his germany as well meeting his german counterpart. he will be in italy as well on this whistle—stop tour of europe as he no doubt asks for that permission that he has long

been asking, to use those uk and us long—range missiles, to be able to use them within russian territory. he had also been hoping, there is the cat obviously there, monitoring the situation, he has been asking for the permission to use those missiles and he had hoped to meet president biden in germany as well but president biden was unable to make that trip to europe because of what we have been hearing about the situation on the ground in florida with a hurricane. we wanted to bring you those images that have just come to us here at the bbc of president zelensky on that whistle—stop tour of european leaders. back tour of european leaders. back to the us and why president biden cannot make it to germany because of the critical situation in florida. hurricane milton has comejust situation in florida. hurricane milton has come just a fortnight after another devastating storm hit florida. scientists are saying that

climate change strengthened the intensity of that and helene's winds were 20 kilometres an hour, faster than they would have been without global warming. our environment correspondent matt mcgrath has more for us. describe to us why scientists feel so readily that they are able to say this strengthening of these extreme weather conditions that we are seeing are down to climate change. seeing are down to climate chance. , , ., seeing are down to climate chance. ,, ., . ., change. the issue of climate chan . e change. the issue of climate change and _ change. the issue of climate change and its _ change. the issue of climate change and its influence - change. the issue of climate change and its influence on i change. the issue of climate i change and its influence on her case has been controversial in recent decades. we saw with hurricane helene several weeks ago that site is carried out an attribution study very quickly after that and this week were able to publish the results, showing that climate influence on the hurricane made the wins 30% stronger, made the rain fall 10% stronger and essentially showed that about 500 times more likely the temperatures fuelled the heat in the gulf of mexico to make that storm stronger and it was

five times more likely to be made by human activity, so showing a strong, discernible influence. they are likely to carry out a similar study on milton to show a similar result in the next couple of days. this is a really quick study straight after some of these intense weather conditions. talk us through how they get that quick scientific knowledge together. the scientists are working really fast following these extreme weather events. this is something that has picked up in recent years and there has been a strong element in making the public of the world aware of how the impact of climate change is having on extreme events. they are able to look at a series of pictures of the world with and without the impact of climate change and to look at how these events play out in those kind of circumstances, to model that type of impact. because they have got so good at it over the years they are able to peer review the process and are

getting quicker at turning around and looking at real events and they are hoping to do that with hurricane milton in the next couple of days. they are all pointing to the same thing, essentially the warmer oceans containing more of the fuel that makes these hurricane stronger and faster. we have seen that play out over the last number of years as more severe hurricanes become more severe hurricanes become more intense and faster and stronger and indeed wetter. it is the rainfall right now and the flooding that accompanies it that poses the greatest danger rather than essentially the wins. ~ ., danger rather than essentially the wins. a , ., danger rather than essentially the wins. n , ., ., the wins. matt mcgrath, our environment _ the wins. matt mcgrath, ourj environment correspondent, thank you for bringing us up to date. lots more on our website. we will be back very shortly with much more on what the situation is on the ground in florida. this is bbc news.

welcome back to bbc news. let's recap what's happening with hurricane milton. it has slammed into the western coast of florida with "a number of deaths" reported on the atlantic coast. these are live pictures from tampa. the entire tampa bay region, and areas to the south, are at greatest risk of the storm, which is carrying winds of more than 200 kilometres an hour. the storm ripped the roof off the tampa bay rays baseball stadium in saint petersburg. pieces of the non—retractable roof can be seen flapping in the wind. security camera video at a beach resort in fort myers clearly shows the ferocity of the hurricane. the camera catching the bending trees, the lashing rain and the flooded roads. and the flooded roads. the governor of florida, ron desantis, said the time ron desantis, said the time for safe evacuation had passed. for safe evacuation had passed.

he warned people left behind he warned people left behind that they shouldn't go outside that they shouldn't go outside until officials told them until officials told them it was safe to do so. it was safe to do so. obviously a very complicated obviously a very complicated situation because of the power situation because of the power outages. bridges have been closed because of fears of a four—metre high storm surge. before the hurricane made landfall, strong winds ripped up trees, damaged mobile homes and left hundreds of thousands without power. outages. part of at least ten tornadoes were reported and millions of people fled the areas most at risk but some have chosen to stay behind. more than two million people and businesses are without power. tom bateman gave us this update. he was in orlando. irate update. he was in orlando. we have had update. he was in orlando. - have had two flash flood warnings for this area popping up warnings for this area popping up on our phones, and everyone else will have seen those will stop it was talking about a risk to life because of that and there will be a lot of

concern about that. there got tornadoes, but this part of tampa, two weeks ago was destroyed by hurricane helene. there was so much concerned that the debris would clog up

the storm drains. but in this neighbourhood and in this community they are not seeing the levels of flooding that they saw during helene. this community obviously still has a lot of cleaning up to do. what we have seen are a number of trees that are down, we have seen some debris. we saw a traffic light that was down. at this point it is a wait and see to assess the damage once the sun is out and crews are able to get out there. the areas