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.

Florida is bracing as Hurricane Milton rapidly intensified into a Category 1 storm on Sunday, days before it’s expected to make landfall on the state’s Gulf Coast where communities are still dealing with the effects of Hurricane Helene.

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.