Monstrous Hurricane Milton targets Florida, triggering evacuations
Hindustan Times* Monstrous Hurricane Milton targets Florida, triggering evacuations Milton expected to grow in size before landfall, affecting hundreds of miles of coastline * Evacuations ordered for over 1 million people in Florida's west-coast counties * Unusual path and rapid intensification raise concerns for storm-surge impact * Huge storm comes less than two weeks after devastating Helene By Julio-Cesar Chavez and Octavio Jones TAMPA, - An expanding Hurricane Milton churned toward Florida's battered Gulf Coast on Tuesday, where more than 1 million people were ordered to evacuate a day before the monster storm slams the Tampa Bay area and plows across the state. Milton, which exploded on Monday into one of the most intense Atlantic hurricanes on record, was forecast to make landfall late on Wednesday, threatening a stretch of Florida's densely populated west coast that is still reeling from the devastating Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago. Ahead of Milton's arrival, some of the Tampa Bay area's 3 million residents rushed to dispose of mounds of debris left by Helene that the new storm could turn into projectiles. Milton is expected to grow in size before making landfall, putting hundreds of miles of coastline within the storm-surge danger zone, said Jamie Rhome, deputy director of the National Hurricane Center.