Florida readies for Hurricane Milton, still reeling from Helene

Florida prepared for its largest evacuation since 2017, on Sunday, as Hurricane Milton intensified in the Gulf of Mexico on its path toward the US state's western coast, coming on the heels of the devastating Hurricane Helene.

Milton, which strengthened from a tropical storm to hurricane on Sunday, was projected to make landfall on Wednesday as a major hurricane, likely hitting near the heavily populated Tampa Bay area, the US National Hurricane Center said.

The new hurricane was expected to affect areas already hit hard by Helene, which made landfall further north on September 26.

Kevin Guthrie, director of Florida's emergency management division, urged people to prepare for the "largest evacuation that we have seen most likely since 2017 Hurricane Irma."

"I highly encourage you to evacuate," Guthrie told Floridians in a press conference.

Milton was about 1,255 km (780 miles) west-southwest of Tampa on Sunday, packing maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 km) and moving to the east toward Florida at 11 kph (7 mph), the National Hurricane Center said.

A hurricane watch was in effect for the northern coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

The wind speed made it a Category 1 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, though it was likely to be upgraded. The private forecaster AccuWeather expected it would rate a 4 out of 5 on its own scale, capable of widespread catastrophic flooding.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned of a potentially higher storm surge and more power outages from Milton compared to Helene, and said destruction from Helene could be compounded.

On Monday, Pinellas County, which includes the city of St. Petersburg, was likely to issue mandatory evacuations for more than 500,000 people in the lowest lying areas, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told a press conference.

He urged people to heed evacuation orders after he said too many ignored them for Helene, resulting in 12 deaths in the county and 1,500 emergency calls that were unable to be answered.

The county already ordered the evacuation of six hospitals, 25 nursing homes and 44 assisted living facilities totaling 6,600 patients, said Cathie Perkins, director of the county's emergency management. School was canceled from Monday to Wednesday.

"We already will be rebuilding for years because of Hurricane Helene, and that will be exacerbated by the impacts of this storm," St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said. "Remember, Hurricane Helene was 160 km (100 miles) away from us, moving in a different direction. This is a powerful Category 2 or Category 3 hurricane headed directly for us."

North Carolina, Florida and much of the South are still recovering from the massive destruction caused by Helene, which killed more than 200 people across six states, making it the deadliest named storm to hit the mainland US since Hurricane Katrina killed nearly 1,400 people in 2005.