Florida Braces for Hurricane Milton, With Storm Surge That Could Outdo Helene

Florida is bracing for what could be its biggest evacuation in seven years, as Hurricane Milton strengthens and heads toward major population centers including Tampa and Orlando.

Hurricane Milton was centered late Sunday night about 230 miles west-northwest of Progreso, Mexico, and 765 miles west-southwest of Tampa, with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph, the National Hurricane Center reported.
Milton is expected to make landfall Wednesday on the Gulf Coast of Florida as a Category 3 hurricane and remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida into the Atlantic Ocean. That would largely spare other southeastern states ravaged by Hurricane Helene, which caused catastrophic damage from Florida into the Appalachian Mountains and a death toll that rose on Sunday to at least 230 people.