Inside the ‘doomed paradise’ in the path of Hurricane Milton: As the clock ticks down to the moment of dread, the Mail’s GREG WOODFIELD reveals how Florida is bracing for an ‘inevitable apocalypse’ [Video]

14:32 EDT 09 Oct 2024, updated 04:13 EDT 10 Oct 2024

One of the first sounds of an approaching hurricane isn’t the wind roar.

It’s the constant noise of drilling to fix plywood sheeting over vulnerable windows and doors of the homes and businesses in the path of destruction.

For me, the earliest sound of a neighbor’s desperate DIY mission to save their house in my small Tampa community happened as early as four days ago.

Because if Hurricane Helene – which claimed 227 lives across multiple states just two weeks ago – was a terrifying wake-up call to the power of nature, then everyone here believes the current 160mph Category 4 Hurricane Milton is the inevitable apocalypse.

Tampa Bay, an area of astonishing beauty and wildlife, and home to 2.5million people, has the atmosphere of a doomed paradise awaiting obliteration in one of the most terrifying weather events for Florida in 100 years.

Many hurricane-hardened Floridians have a habit of …