CATASTROPHIC 145mph winds began to lash Florida today as Hurricane Michael made landfall, affecting the more than 375,000 people living along the Gulf Coast.

The US National Weather Service issued a dire warning as the most powerful storm on record ever to reach north-west Florida approached the shore.

“This storm will bring [a] deadly surge to the Florida Panhandle and Big Bend Coast and is not comparable to anything we have seen before,” it said.

“If you have been told to evacuate, leave. Do not stay and risk your life or that of your family.”

Florida’s Republican Governor Rick Scott tweeted: “The time to evacuate has come and gone ... seek refuge.”

Overnight Hurricane Michael surged from a Category 2 to Category 4 as it drew energy from the Gulf of Mexico’s 29°C waters.

Yesterday US President Donald Trump reacted with scepticism to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, which called on governments to immediately begin lowering carbon emissions and thereby prevent global temperatures from rising higher than an extra 1.5°C. 

“It was given to me and I want to look at who drew it, which group drew it,” Trump said before heading to a campaign rally in Iowa.

“Because I can give you reports that are fabulous and I can give you reports that aren't so good,” he said. “But I'll be looking at it, absolutely.”