Communities in Florida are preparing to get hit head-on by a potential Category 3 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico days after Hurricane Helene made landfall in the state — killing 20 people, leaving thousands without power and paving a trail of wreckage.

The National Hurricane Center predicts that Milton will become “an intense hurricane with multiple life-threatening hazards” and will likely make landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast by midweek, as the storm charts its path eastwards as a Category 1 hurricane, according to the NHC’s latest update.

The Gulf Coast is once again hunkering down, this time ahead of Hurricane Milton's expected mid-week landfall. Pinellas County residents in zones A, B and C are urged to evacuate, with mandatory orders likely to come early this week.