10/08/2024

Monster Hurricane Milton Takes Aim at Florida's Battered Gulf Coast

Its unusual path raises concerns for the storm surge impact

Hurricane Milton was expected to enlarge even as its intensity ebbed on Tuesday as the now-Category 4 storm grinded past Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula en route to Florida's Gulf Coast, where more than 1 million people were ordered to evacuate before the monster storm arrived.

The densely populated west coast of Florida, still reeling from the devastating Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago, braced for landfall on Wednesday.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm was likely to hit near the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, where some of the 3 million residents rushed to dispose of mounds of debris left behind by Helene before heeding the evacuation orders. If the hurricane drives directly across the city, it will mark the first time since 1921 that this has occurred.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Reuters.