As a once-in-century hurricane barrels closer towards Florida’s west coast, one Massachusetts representative says Congress “must stand ready” to approve emergency funding “without delay.”

U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan made the call to action Tuesday as Hurricane Milton remained a powerful Category 4 storm, and thousands of people were evacuating the Tampa Bay region to seek safety inland.

“#HurricaneMilton will be one of the worst storms to ever make landfall in the U.S.,” Trahan said Tuesday in a post on X. “If you are in the path of the storm, please listen to local authorities urging you to evacuate. Congress must stand ready to return to Washington to pass disaster relief funding without delay.”

Milton could make landfall Wednesday night in the Tampa Bay area, a population of more than 3.3 million people.

Most of Florida’s west coast was under a hurricane or tropical storm warning as the system and its 155 mph winds spun just off Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, creeping toward shore and sucking up energy from the Gulf of Mexico’s warm waters.

The National Hurricane Center warned Tuesday that the “west-central coast of the Florida Peninsula” could see storm surges of 10 feet or higher, “devastating hurricane force winds,” and rainfall amounts of 5 to 12 inches, with localized amounts nearing 18 inches.

“If you are in the Storm Surge Warning area, this is an extremely life-threatening situation,” the center stated, “and you should evacuate today if ordered by local officials. There will likely not be enough time to wait to leave on  Wednesday.”

President Joe Biden has approved an emergency declaration for Florida, and the White House announced Tuesday that he would postpone a trip to Germany and Angola to monitor Milton, “given the projected trajectory and strength” of the storm.

“This could be the worst storm to hit Florida in over a century,” Biden told reporters. “God willing it won’t be. But that’s what it’s looking like right now.”

Milton comes roughly two weeks after Helene, a Category 4 storm that made landfall the night of Sept. 26 in northern Florida. That hurricane made a dent in the Tampa Bay region, leaving behind debris that residents and officials fear could become projectiles this time around.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is vowing to continue around-the-clock efforts to pick up debris from Helene until it’s no longer safe.

In a Tuesday afternoon briefing, the governor said Florida Department of Transportation crews had removed over 1,300 truckloads of debris in just over 48 hours, an effort key to sparing communities more damage.

“We’ve made a huge dent in this,” DeSantis said. “The more debris we can get picked up, the less damage that’s going to happen, whether that’s floating into the Gulf of Mexico, whether it’s projectiles that go into other buildings.”

Federal support for Helene survivors surpassed $210 million on Monday. While the Federal Emergency Management Agency is maintaining focus on that recovery, officials say they are “fully prepared to respond to (Milton’s) potential impacts.”

Trahan’s call for Congress to “stand ready” to return to Washington to pass emergency funding came after federal lawmakers replenished FEMA’s Disaster Relief fund with $20 billion in late September as part of a short-term government spending bill.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said last week that while FEMA would meet immediate needs, it did not have enough funding to make it through the hurricane season. That came before President Biden pressed congressional leaders for more money for recovery efforts.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, in an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” didn’t commit to calling Congress back into session until the scheduled post-election session. Several Democrats, in a letter obtained by Bloomberg Government on Tuesday, are asking that the House be reconvened immediately.

“As representatives of the American people, it is our duty to ensure that every community has the resources to recover and rebuild in the wake of devastation,” the letter states. “This is not merely a matter of policy but a profound obligation to the citizens we serve, who depend on their government for support in their most critical times of need.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

People fill up gas containers at a station ahead of Hurricane Milton’s expected landfall in Lakeland, Florida Tuesday. (Photo by Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP via Getty Images)
A military convoy is seen Tuesday ahead of Hurricane Milton’s expected mid-week landfall in Sanford, Florida. (Photo by Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP via Getty Images)