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Florida braces for Hurricane Milton, right after Helene

US President Joe Biden in Florida in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

US President Joe Biden in Florida in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Photo: Getty

Florida is preparing for its largest evacuation since 2017 as Hurricane Milton intensifies in the Gulf of Mexico on its path toward the US state’s western coast.

Milton, which strengthened from a tropical storm to hurricane on Sunday (local time), comes hard on the heels of devastating Hurricane Helene, which hit the same area less than a fortnight ago.

The Miami-based US National Hurricane Centre said Milton was projected to make landfall on Wednesday, most likely hitting near the heavily populated Tampa Bay area.

The new hurricane has the potential to affect areas already hit hard by Helene, which made landfall further north on the coast 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.

Milton was about 1300 kilometres west-south-west of Tampa on  Sunday, packing maximum sustained winds of 140km/h, the National Hurricane Centre said.

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.

“There are some areas with a lot of debris that is there, so if you get hit with a major hurricane, what’s going to happen to that debris? It’s going to increase the damage dramatically,” DeSantis said.

“This is all hands on deck to get that debris where it needs to be.”

Mexico issued a hurricane watch for the north coast of the Yucatán Peninsula.

-AAP

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