Hurricane Milton has weakened slightly but remains a powerful Category 5 hurricane in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, threatening to flood the west coast of Florida with historic storm surge.
Almost the entirety of the west coast of Florida was under a hurricane or tropical storm warning on Tuesday as the storm’s 270km/h (165mph) winds spun towards Tampa Bay, one of the largest urban areas of the state, sucking energy from the Gulf of Mexico’s warm waters.
