As Hurricane Milton strengthened to a Category 5 storm on Monday, 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.
Milton strengthened to the most powerful category of storms as it churned through the southwest Gulf of Mexico, about 1,183 km from Tampa.
The National Hurricane Center said it was packing sustained winds of up to 257 kilometers per hour.
The storm was expected to turn northeast on Tuesday and head toward the populous Tampa-St. Petersburg area, making landfall late on Wednesday as a Category 3 storm before racing across the Florida Peninsula into the Atlantic.
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