Hurricane Milton live updates: Category 3 storm hours away from landfall in Florida

Milton was downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane Wednesday but remained a major storm and a grave threat as it closed in on Florida's west coast, where officials sounded urgent warnings for residents to flee inland or face grim odds of surviving the storm's surge.

Milton has fluctuated in strength as it approached, but regardless of the distinction in wind speeds, the National Hurricane Center said it would be a major and extremely dangerous storm when its center makes landfall late Wednesday.

Officials said at 3 p.m. that the Category 4 storm's center was 120 miles (193 kilometers) southwest of Tampa and 110 miles (177 kilometers) west of Fort Myers. It had maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (209 kph).

The storm is expected to make landfall Wednesday night.

More than 150,000 customers already without power before Hurricane Milton makes landfall in Florida

As of 5:30 p.m. ET, there were 157,534 customers without power across Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton's expected landfall, according to poweroutage.us.

Fire officials say four passengers aboard a small airplane were trying to evacuate from Hurricane Milton when the aircraft crashed into Tampa Bay on Tuesday morning.

The passengers and one dog traveling with them were rescued from the water by a good Samaritan in a boat.

Three of the four passengers on the Piper Cherokee were hospitalized after the crash near Albert Whitted Airport in St. Petersburg, said Ashlie Handy, a spokesperson for St. Petersburg Fire Rescue.

The passengers and one dog traveling with them were rescued from the water by a good Samaritan in a boat, Handy told The Tampa Bay Times. Their conditions weren't immediately known.