It was bumper to bumper traffic as thousands in central Florida left their homes ahead of another potent hurricane.
Milton quickly morphed into a Category 5 and is expected make landfall on Wednesday.
Residents are preparing for a direct hit in the Tampa area and officials are urging those in evacuation zones to clear out.
Winds have been clocked well over 200 km/h and more than 12-million people are under a hurricane watch.
Forecasters believe Milton will weaken before making landfall, but will grow in terms of the overall area it impacts.
Many southern United States are still reeling after Helene touched down as a Category 4 less than two weeks ago. It caused wide-spread flooding an wash outs and left more than one-million homes and businesses without power.