Heartbroken Bindi Irwin’s fears for her American in-laws in Florida as they get caught up in Hurricane Milton

Bindi Irwin has shared her heartbreak as her family and friends prepare for Hurricane Milton in her husband Chandler Powell’s native Florida.

Hurricane Milton has already killed several people, with authorities warning remaining residents to “SEARCH FOR HIGH GROUND NOW.”

The sheriff of St. Lucie County in Florida has said there have been “multiple fatalities” as a result of a tornado outbreak ahead of Hurricane Milton’s arrival on Wednesday.

A Flash Flood Emergency was declared due to high waters from Hurricane Milton, which made landfall as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday evening.

Bindi shared a photo of Tampa during a beautiful sunset from her latest trip to the US, as the world watches and waits for news of the impending catastrophe.

“Our family, friends and everyone who will have to weather Hurricane Milton know how much we love you and how deeply our hearts are breaking as you prepare for this devastating storm,” she wrote.

Bindi and her American husband Chandler currently live in Queensland, but often travel to Florida to spend time with his parents, Chris and Shannan, and his extended family.

The pair first met in November 2013 when former professional wakeboarder Chandler and his family visited the Australia Zoo while in town for a championship.

He ended up on a tour with the Irwin family, and we hit it off immediately.

Chandler was born in Seffner, Florida, and his parents live just outside of Tampa and also have a son, Cameron, who is married to wife Kristin.

On Wednesday, the National Weather Service declared a state of emergency after 10 to 16 inches of rain fell in the Tampa Bay area, a region with just over two million residents.

The emergency will last until at least 2:30 a.m. local time.

‘Between 30 and 40 centimeters of rain has fallen. Flash flooding is already underway,” the NWS said. “This is an EXTREMELY DANGEROUS SITUATION. FIND HIGH GROUND NOW!’

Milton is the fifth hurricane to make landfall in the United States in 2024, as the mayor of Tampa Bay says it’s “going to be tough.”

The National Hurricane Center says the storm made landfall on Siesta Key, Florida, a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico near Sarasota, with maximum sustained winds of 120 miles per hour.

The storm has already left more than a million people in the region without power.

As thousands of evacuees clogged highways, faced fuel shortages and flight cancellations on Tuesday (AEDT), Tampa’s mayor bluntly warned residents that if they chose to stay, “You’re going to die.”

The greatest danger is the wall of water, known as a storm surge, that Milton will throw up. The storm surge was initially feared to reach a height of 4.57 metres, but forecasters now believe the storm surge will reach a record high of 3.6 metres.

The National Weather Prediction Service has issued a Flash Flood Warning for much of the Tampa area where Shannan and Chris live, with “significant threats to life and property.”

The entire Irwin clan left for the US around this time last year to celebrate Thanksgiving in the US

Terri and Robert Irwin traveled with Bindi and Chandler to unite both sides of the family.

The crew spent the day at Walt Disney World, where they all posed for a photo in front of the park’s famous Cinderella Castle.

“Visiting Chandler’s amazing family for Thanksgiving and spending time together in the most magical place,” Bindi captioned her photo. ‘I will cherish these memories forever.’

At that time, Women’s Day magazine spoke to an insider who claimed Florida was definitely “on the table” for the high-profile couple.

‘[Florida] is true [Chandler’s] being family and he misses it. He gave up everything to be with Bindi,” the source said.

The source close to the family also claimed that Bindi was ‘craving a change of scenery and a slower pace’ and that with brother Robert Irwin taking over at the Australia Zoo, the timing was right.

Chris and Shannan flew from Florida to Australia in 2021 to meet their granddaughter for the first time.

The meeting coincided with Grace’s first birthday on March 25.

‘Happy first birthday, dear Grace! And happy second anniversary Bindi and Chandler! I love you three so much,” her grandfather Chris wrote in a heartfelt post on Instagram.

“These last three weeks have been such a blessing spending time with you.”

Bindi and Chandler tied the knot on March 25, 2020, before welcoming their daughter on their wedding anniversary exactly a year later.

They made the ‘difficult decision’ to host their wedding without guests due to Covid restrictions, which meant Chandler’s parents were not present.

However, Chandler’s parents “fully supported” their decision to “just get married.”

In profuse Instagram posts on her mother-in-law’s birthday, the young conservationist says she is “grateful for [her] friendship’ with them and is ‘impressed’ by Shannan.

‘Congratulations to my beautiful mother-in-law and father-in-law. Shannan and Chris, I love you both so much and feel so lucky to have you in my life,” she wrote earlier this year.

Shortly after Grace’s birth, she also talked about her ‘dream’ that her daughter would live in America.

‘When our beautiful daughter was born, I decided I wanted to take her on a big adventure. Since my husband is from Florida and my mother is from Oregon, I want our girl to experience as much of the wilderness of the United States as possible,” Bindi wrote.

‘My dream is to take her to every national park in the US before she is 18. If you have any advice, please share it with me. I can’t wait to make this dream come true…’