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whether you'll like your job or not, whether you'll make friends, whether you'll fit in, and here i feel like it's so welcoming and such an inclusive place to work, you just feel like you're valued. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" y in washington and this is bbc y "world news america." joe biden warns hurricane milton could be the storm of the century. >> i am live in florida where last-minute preparations are still underway and evacuation centers like the one behind me as floridians brace for the hurricane. caitriona: israel's defense

minister warns the response to iran will be deadly. ♪ caitriona: hello and welcome to "world news america." i am caitriona perry. millions of people in florida are rushing to leave their homes in the final hours before hurricane milton hits the state's west coast. these pictures show the size of the monster storm and officials think it could still double in size before landfall. the storm has already brushed past mexico where it caused major flooding. it is due to reach florida in several hours and milton is forecasted to be a category 3 storm when it makes landfall over sarasota. the city of tampa is close to the storm, which has winds close to 130 miles per hour.

president joe biden has warned milton could be one of the worst storms to make landfall in a century. pres. biden: many communities in hurricane milton's path do not have a moment to catch their breath before helene and milton. two historic storms in two weeks. i want to thank everyone who has followed local guidance to evacuate ahead of landfall. it is tough to leave behind everything you won't but i urge everyone in hurricane milton's path to follow instructions. it is literally a matter of life and death. caitriona: earlier today the governor of florida spoke on the efforts underway to help residents as the storm approaches. he said the state is prepared but he urged people to take necessary safety steps, saying

the storm will pack a major punch. governor desantis: hurricane milton is currently a category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 155 miles per hour. that is a whisker shy of a category 5. there is the hope it will weaken before landfall there is high confidence is hurricane will pack a major punch and do a lot of damage. caitriona: residents across florida are heeding the warnings and continuing to evacuate. they have boarded up homes and businesses as hurricane milton edges closer. there have been warnings the storm has triggered the formation of tornadoes in southern florida. the national weather service in miami issued more warnings on wednesday than on any other calendar day on record. as people rushed to get out of

harms, demand for petrol has jumped with 23% of fuel stations in the state having run dry. let's get the latest from our reporter in boynton beach, florida. how has the evacuation plan been working so far? >> as you mentioned we have heard the warnings from state, local and national officials, leading to a crescendo today. we heard from president biden and florida governor telling people if you are in the storm s -- if you are in the storm 's path, please leave. the gulf coast is expected to make impact. we do not have hard and fast numbers on how many people have evacuated, we believe it is millions at this point. you have seen the roads clawed with people leaving tampa and sarasota and heading to safety. we are in front of an evacuation

center. they have asked us to not film close to the center. they want to make sure those coming here have some privacy. florida has set up evacuation centers across the path of the storm, insuring people have things like food, water, internet and a place to sleep. and air conditioning because it is still hot and humid. we spoke to a gentleman who evacuated from the southwest part of the coast of florida and he wanted to make sure his life was home. he had a mobile home and he said he valued his life over the mobile home. >> i decided to come because this morning at 4:00 we had a tornado warning and i got the message on my phone. the lights went down. no internet, nothing, it was pitch black. you better find shelter or do something. i did not know what to do. >> that must have been very scary.

>> very scary. i did not know what to do. i am not used to this. i stayed calm and said, ok, let's see what happens. it was pitch black. i could not see anything. >> mr. fernandez who we spoke to earlier, we asked him why he thinks some people decided to stay in their homes and he said people in florida are used to hurricanes and some believe it will be like the other. as we heard from the president, this is believed to be the storm of the century. caitriona: what is expected to happen once the store makes landfall and the obvious cleanup operation afterward? >> as you mentioned earlier the storm has been downgraded to a category 3 and has slowed down a little bit while moving toward the gulf coast. the concern is the winds are still heavy and we could see a storm surge of up to 15 feet.

that is when water from the ocean is brought onto land. that is considered one of the deadliest parts of a hurricane. officials are concerned of up to 18 inches of rain in some areas and that can lead to flash flooding. we saw that with hurricane helene in north carolina. officials say people must heed warnings especially if they believe they can drive away from the storm. people get caught up in the storm or the rain. the weather is turning inclement where we are. i can tell you florida has been preparing for the debris cleanup. we saw trucks ready for power lines down, trees left as debris in the road. they are ready but they have to wait for the eye of the storm to pass. no preparations can go into effect until it is safe to do so. caitriona: thank you for that. go seek shelter yourself.

let's bring in our correspondent, gordon corera, further up north in florida, he is in tampa. what is it like where you are? we have been hearing about the winds and the rains that come ahead of the eye of the storm are dangerous themselves. . gordon: that is right. you can probably see behind me what it is like. the wind has intensified. it has come in bursts and surges rather than being consistent. we had one a few minutes ago. we are expecting that landfall in the next few hours. about half the city has gotten out and the other half as basically hunkered down, waiting to see what milton will bring after it arrives. apocalyptic warnings about the potential impact. caitriona: we have seen a broader political debate about resourcing and how all of this has been handled.

does it seem to you there are enough people, resources for the evacuation, but also for the cleanup and any required rescue effort? gordon: the people we have spoken to here have stressed there has been good coordination between different agencies, local, state or federal, in trying to deal with issues. i spoke to the chief of police in tampa. there is a limit to what they can do. they have tried to clear some debris from the last hurricane two weeks ago. really a lot of work they are doing is preparing for the recovery afterward. they have been bringing in people to be ready to try to get the power back on because they are expecting power to go out in various areas. also to have police, fire and others doing emergency rescue. this has been a political

debate, there is a presidential election going on. donald trump has spoken about the last hurricane's cleanup and whether enough was done but here people on the ground are focused on minimizing the impact and dealing with the aftermath as effectively as possible. caitriona: gordon, thank you for that. get out of harm's way, yourself. take care. turning to the middle east were deadly attacks have taken inside gaza, israel and lebanon. in northern gaza and is really airstrike hit a hospital, killing at least 15 people. the hospital was housing displaced families. among the dead was a photojournalist who work for a tv channel. gaza's health ministry said 60 people were killed across gaza on wednesday. the death toll since october 7 of last year now exceeds 42,000 people according to the hamas run health ministry. experts believe the true death

could be much higher. inside israel and rocket fired by hezbollah killed two people in a town. the mayor said a man and a woman in their 40's were walking their dogs when the rocket fell near them. hezbollah also fired a barrage of rockets near an israeli port city. somewhere intercepted but others hit the area causing injuries. there was a mass stabbing attack. at least six people were stabbed at four different locations by an assailant riding a motorcycle. a suspect was taken into custody. israel has continued to strike targets in lebanon. video shows serious damage in the southern suburbs, home to several hezbollah facilities. israel also dropped bombs in towns in southern lebanon. the bbc's correspondent sent us

this report. >> the view, israel's ever expanding war in the name of self-defense. lebanon being pounded like gaza before it. israel said it is targeting hezbollah. as we watch the strikes get close. then closer, still. this strike has just come in, right behind our hotel. incredibly loud, incredibly close. weekend -- we can hear sirens, first-aid rushing to the scene. there are civilians close to the area of the blast. the merging -- emerging from the

smoke, a mother and child who had tried to escape the war with a trip to the beach. israel hit this building just off the strand, which houses a pro-iranian tv channel. there was one dead in the strike. hezbollah, too keeps, striking, firing rockets across the border, killing a man and woman in israel today. neither has the ground invasion. this is the latest footage released by israel, said to show its troops on lebanese soil in the south. here, a crisis unit is trying to keep the city alive. getting food and blankets to shelters and fuel to hospitals. this father appears with his

children, desperate for help. the director worries for his team, some of whom had to flee their homes. >> it is a critical and very dangerous situation for us. israel did not take care for any civilian people. >> no feelings. >> they have no feelings. >> your decision is to remain? you will stay? >> i will stay. i will stay in my office, in my home. >> others are staying, too, despite wrenching losses. here, a son's grief. [crying] >> he drops to his knees and is

consoled by a gravedigger. his elderly mother was killed by an israeli airstrike. the 18th person to be buried here. war has destroyed the rituals of life and of death in lebanon. prayers are being said here now. this is a quick burial from one of those killed recently. a mass grave has been dug here. we have been told people will be buried here temporarily and then exhumed and reburied when the situation is safer. he rages at israel. until our last breaths, we will not leave our land, he says.

if we die, we will all be buried here. then he helps to lay her to re st, his last act for his mother. bbc news, tyre. caitriona: jeremy has been speaking to the former israeli prime minister. >> israel's onslaught, this was an attack in beirut last saturday, when a senior hezbollah -- would not have been possible without american weapons and diplomatic support. even though israel's military hardware depends on u.s. resupply, washington has been reluctant to pressure israel. since april, when iran attacked israel with missiles after an israeli airstrike on their embassy in damascus, the u.s. has been telling the israelis not to escalate by any of iran's nuclear sites even after the

latest iranian attack last week. now influential voices in israel want to ignore u.s. wishes. the former prime minister is one of them, saying this opportunity should not be missed. >> we are at the 11th hour, which was not the case three years ago. there is also an ability that did not exist until now. essentially iran was defending itself with hezbollah and hamas. they were its insurance policy against a strike. now both of those arms are pretty much neutralized. >> the defenses are down. >> exactly, and the road is paved. >> do you want the americans to do it for you? >> we have never asked for america to fight our wars or for them to send soldiers. >> from iran's point of view, they might think about defending themselves. israel escalated the war in lebanon and decided to assassinate the leader of

hezbollah. a very big ally of theirs. they were pushed into a position where they had to respond. >> quite the contrary. you are mistaking the events. there is a regional war taking place but the head of the octopus that is conducting all of this war is the only part that is immune. it is unbelievable if you think about it. . all of this mess, chaos, this death has been governed and managed from tehran. >> speeding that up, provoking them -- into creating faster. >> nuclear weapons. we have the thankless job of

taking out nuclear fire but we are doing that job. if they get that bomb it is everyone's problem. it is not our problem. i want to see how londoners would feel if it happened. >> israelis are getting on with their lives while their government decides how to retaliate for the ballistic missiles -- attack last week. the next steps. caitriona: the u.s. president joe biden has spoken with israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu. israel continues to weigh its response. the white house said it was direct. kamala harris was also on the call. israel's defense minister in a

video posted by the defense minister. he said israel's response to iran. the former u.s. ambassador to lebanon from 2004-2008. thank you for joining us on bbc news. this call between benjamin iran and the president -- between benjamin netanyahu and the president. is it surprising to you that it took so long for this phone call to take place? >> because of the october 7 anniversary.

president biden would have called. apparently that no surprises policy was a one-way street. it only went in one direction. the white house has been surprised about the surprises of the escalatory measures against hezbollah and so forth because of the impact it has on u.s. interests in the broader region and the world. caitriona: do you expect president biden will have made that point known to prime minister netanyahu today? how will that have been received? >> he certainly has telegraphed his frustrations privately in ways that were bound to leak. the israelis must know he is frustrated. yes, the united states will stand with israel's right to defend itself, there is no question about that. that does not mean israel should take that as a blank check to do

whatever it wants with u.s. weapons without having the u.s. at least being informed in advance. caitriona: do you think israel would proceed with whatever its retaliation on iran would be, that it would proceed without u.s. approval? >> on retaliatory strike against iran, my guess is the israelis would unleash broad parameters because they would have to count on the united states to counter any iranian response. they will have to count on u.s. military assets to intercept any iranian response. i would expect and hope the israelis are being a little more transparent about their thinking on the iran retaliation than they were with the assassination for the pager and walkie-talkie explosions. caitriona: having been ambassador to lebanon, what are the chances of a cease-fire

between israel and hezbollah? >> i am quite concerned. if you look at the casualty rate already, there have been more lebanese killed already than there were in the entire 2006 war. in the 2006 war, which ended in a stalemate, neither side prevailed, both -- israel was looking for a way out of southern lebanon. the resolution from the security council 1701 that ended the war was designed precisely as a way for the israelis to tell themselves we can go back to israel now. we can leave southern lebanon and not have another occupation that created the conditions that led to hezbollah's rise in the first place. i'm worried that this time the israelis are going to be a lot less amenable to the type of

peacekeeping force and security council resolution that ended the war in 2006. at what point will the israeli say the strategic landscape has been shifted in our favor sufficiently that we can end this now? i'm quite worried there is no answers the question. caitriona: that is indeed the question. thank you for joining us on bbc news. >> thank you. caitriona: let's turn to some other news from around the world. polls have closed end votes are being counted in mozambique. the winner will have to tackle the country's economic challenges which have deepened after a major gas project was put on hold amid a rebellion in the north. an actress revealed she has been receiving treatment for breast cancer. she is best known for her role in the u.s. version of "the

office." she said she is now cancer free. that is it for today. as always you can keep up to date on the middle east, on hurricane milton and all of the day's news on our website, bbc.com/news. we have a live page on the hurricane. i am caitriona perry. thank you for watching "world announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: hurricane multum hits florida's west coast with life-threatening storm surge and potentially catastrophic winds. >> the impacts of the wind is inevitable and we have to rebuild from that but saving lives is the most important thing right now. geoff: former president donald trump tries to win over voters and president biden's hometown. amna: a growing number of civilians in lebanon are displaced and in dire need of aid