Hurricane Milton strengthened rapidly in the southern Gulf of Mexico on Monday as it skirted the northern edge of the Yucatan peninsula, home to tourist hotspots and cargo ports, with a strike expected on Florida this week.

The Category-5 hurricane, the strongest on the Saffir-Simpson scale, is seen generating a storm surge that could raise water levels by up to 1.8 metres along the Yucatan's northern coast, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

The Miami-based hurricane center said Milton was about 169 km west of the port, moving east at 14 kph, and expected to turn northeast by late Tuesday or early Wednesday as it barrels toward Florida's Gulf coast.

It estimated the hurricane's maximum sustained winds at 282 kph.

Milton had "explosively" intensified, the centre noted, similar to other storm systems this hurricane season, which experts argue have been supercharged by warmer ocean temperatures.

Floridians scrambled to prepare for its arrival this week near Tampa, where it may bring blistering winds, life-threatening storm surge and torrential rains to the Gulf Coast for the second time in two weeks.

The hurricane is expected to make landfall around Florida's populous Tampa-St. Petersburg area on Wednesday, before racing across the state and over the Atlantic Ocean, according to the hurricane centre.

"It's going to be powerful, so please take the appropriate precautions," said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis during a news briefing after issuing a state-of-emergency declaration for 51 counties.

"This has the potential to have a lot of damage."

US President Joe Biden also declared an emergency for Florida, allowing federal disaster-relief operations to commence.

Relief efforts are already underway throughout the US Southeast in the wake of Helene, a Category-4 hurricane that killed more than 200 people across six states. (Reuters)