Florida braces for Hurricane Milton as communities recover from Helene and Ian

Milton’s centre could come ashore on Wednesday in the Tampa Bay region, which has not endured a direct hit by a major hurricane in more than a century.

Boats destroyed during Hurricane Helene are shown on the Davis Islands Yacht Basin ahead of the possible arrival of Hurricane Milton (Chris O’Meara/AP)

Florida’s Gulf Coast braced on Tuesday for the impact of Hurricane Milton’s near-record winds and expected massive storm surge, which could bring destruction to areas already reeling from Helene’s devastation 12 days ago and still recovering from Ian’s wrath two years ago.

Almost the entirety of Florida’s west coast was under a hurricane warning early on Tuesday as the Category 5 storm and its 165mph (265kph) winds crept toward the state at 9mph (14kph), sucking energy from the Gulf of Mexico’s warm water.