Residents warned as Hurricane Milton could land once-in-a-century hit on Florida

Milton’s centre could come ashore on Wednesday night in the Tampa Bay area, which has a population of more than 3.3 million people

Hurricane Milton passes near Yucatan state, Mexico, on its way to Florida (Martin Zetina/AP)

Hurricane Milton weakened slightly on Tuesday but remained a ferocious storm that could land a once-in-a-century direct hit on the populous Tampa Bay region of  the US, with towering storm surges and the power to turn debris from Helene’s recent devastation into dangerous projectiles.

Most of Florida’s west coast was under a hurricane or tropical storm warning as the system and its 150 mph winds spun just off Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, creeping toward shore and sucking energy from the Gulf of Mexico’s warm waters.