Hurricane Milton, Category 5 Storm, Threatens Mexico, Florida
Hurricane Milton intensified “explosively” on Monday near the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, with its expected arrival in Florida anticipated during the night from Wednesday to Thursday. This comes shortly after Florida experienced the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene at the end of September.
As a Category 5 hurricane—the highest classification on the Saffir-Simpson scale—Milton arrives amid ongoing disputes between Republicans and Democrats regarding federal authorities’ response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene, which claimed at least 230 lives across the southeastern United States, including at least 15 in Florida.
“If the storm continues on its current path, it will be the worst to strike the Tampa area in over a century,” meteorological services in this major Florida city warned on Monday.
Milton is expected to make landfall in this southeastern state, the third most populous in the U.S., late Wednesday into Thursday after passing along the northern coast of Mexico’s Yucatan province on Monday and Tuesday.
With “destructive winds” reaching speeds of up to 285 km/h, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the hurricane is forecasted to generate “devastating waves” along the Yucatan coast.
Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, also alerted citizens to the possibility of “torrential rains” in a message posted on X.
Earlier on Monday, residents in the Yucatan were seen barricading doors and windows, while fishermen returned their boats to port.
