Hurricane Milton strengthened and became a Category 5 hurricane on Monday, posing a threat to the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula on its way to the US state of Florida, which ordered mass evacuations while it was still recovering from the devastation caused by Hurricane Helen.
With wind speeds reaching 285 kilometers per hour, Milton was classified as the strongest storm on the five-point hurricane intensity scale.
Although the hurricane is expected to weaken when it makes landfall in Florida on Wednesday, counties along the state’s west coast have been ordered to evacuate in preparation for potentially catastrophic winds, rain and waves of 2.4 to 3.7 metres.
The US National Hurricane Center predicted that the hurricane would most likely hit areas near the Tampa Bay area, where more than three million people live.
Milton is currently moving near the northern edge of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, including tourist attractions and shipping ports. The hurricane center said the hurricane could raise water levels by up to 1.8 metres.
Relief efforts are still underway across the southeastern United States in the wake of Hurricane Helen, which killed more than 200 people in six states and was a Category 4 hurricane.
This hurricane was the deadliest on the mainland United States since Hurricane Katrina, which killed nearly 1,400 people in 2005.
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