Tropical Storm Idalia is expected to strengthen into a major hurricane as it crawls toward Florida’s Gulf Coast as officials issued evacuation orders and urged residents to make preparations ahead of an expected landfall.

Idalia was churning about 130km off western Cuba as it barrelled north, carrying maximum sustained winds of 105km/h, the National Hurricane Centre said in an advisory on Monday.

The storm’s growing intensity and its current northerly track put 14 million Floridians under hurricane and tropical storm warnings.

“Buckle up for this one,” Florida governor Ron DeSantis said during a news conference on Monday afternoon, adding that he had spoken to

US President Joe Biden and FEMA Director Deanne Criswell.

“Do what you got to do. You still have time today. You have time for most of tomorrow,” he added, urging residents to prepare for the potentially dangerous conditions.

Idalia will reach a category three strength on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale when it makes landfall in northern Florida’s Big Bend area, where the panhandle transitions into the peninsula, the hurricane centre forecast.

Shannon Hartsfield, who runs a fishing boat in Apalachicola Bay in Franklin County on the state’s panhandle, heeded the warnings, even though he lives west of where landfall is expected.

Mr Hartsfield and many of his fellow fishers have pulled up almost all of their boats from the bay and moved them to high ground.

Other fishermen who ran out of time and left their crab traps behind must now wait until after the storm to assess the damage.

“It could jog a little west and come straight at us,” Mr Hartsfield said.

“It’s not in the Gulf yet, so we won’t know for sure until tomorrow. Hopefully we won’t catch the worst of it.”

By Tuesday (local time), Florida’s Gulf Coast, southeast Georgia and the eastern north and south Carolina should experience torrential rains of 10-20cm, with the possibility of scattered flash and urban flooding.

Ahead of the storm, school districts across the region announced they would cancel classes starting on Monday afternoon.

Tampa International Airport said in a statement that it was suspending commercial operations beginning at 12.01am on Tuesday.

It will reopen after it can assess any damage.