Hurricane Milton causes one death in Mexico. Biden: 'Worst in 100 years'. Winds up to 250 km/h

"Although fluctuations in intensity are expected, Milton is expected to remain an extremely dangerous hurricane until it makes landfall in Florida," said the National Hurricane Center warning. With such intense winds, Milton is capable of toppling houses, uprooting trees and triggering power outages that could last for weeks or months. However, it is difficult for hurricanes to maintain their maximum strength for long, so Milton's winds could subside - and that is what the 3.3 million residents in the Tampa and Sarasota area, a densely populated area on Florida's west coast, are hoping for.

Widespread power outages are likely and a small change in Milton's trajectory can determine whether it will hit a densely populated area, said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who declared a state of emergency in 51 counties. "Please, if you are in the Tampa Bay area, you need to evacuate," Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said in a briefing Monday. "Drowning deaths from the storm surge are 100 per cent preventable if you do not leave."

Authorities on the Yucatan Peninsula issued their own evacuation requests as the storm hit the coast with waves expected to be up to six metres high. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Yucatan Governor Joaquin Diaz Mena urged citizens in the area to follow official instructions and go to shelters to stay safe. Authorities also closed ports in the Gulf of Mexico and suspended schools in some municipalities in the state of Quintana Roo.

It is unclear exactly where in Florida Milton will touch land. Various computer forecast models disagree and the hurricane centre says errors of up to 100 miles are possible in the days before it reaches the coast. Milton is likely to touch down in Florida between 5pm and 9pm local time on Wednesday, said Tyler Roys, AccuWeather Inc. meteorologist. Others are leaning towards the evening. Although Milton has been downgraded from its previous Category 5 status, it has rapidly increased in strength due to warm Gulf of Mexico waters that also intensified the deadly Helene force less than a fortnight ago. Meteorologist Roys said a ridge of high pressure that is setting temperature records in Phoenix and the Southwest is helping drive Milton on an unusual west-to-east route across the Gulf. No storm has charted such a course since 1900.

Milton is likely to cause damage and losses of $60 billion to $80 billion, said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeller at Enki Research, in an X post. Meanwhile, Moody's RMS Event Response estimated that privately insured losses could range from $8 billion to $14 billion, with another $2 billion covered by the National Flood Insurance Program.

In addition to bringing fierce winds, Milton is expected to push a wall of water up the coast that could reach 4.5 metres in Tampa Bay, the NHC said. Hurricane Helene brought "the most significant surge this area has seen in a while, and we're already going to surpass it just two weeks later," said Matt Anderson, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tampa. "We're now expecting the worst storm surge we've seen in Tampa Bay in recorded history, just considering the trajectory, intensity and where Milton is expected to touch down."

NASA and SpaceX have postponed Thursday's launch of the agency's multi-billion dollar Europa Clipper mission to explore one of Jupiter's moons. The agency and SpaceX have launch opportunities until 6 November.

Milton will be the second major storm to hit Florida in less than two weeks and the fifth hurricane to hit the US this year. At least 227 people died when Hurricane Helene hit the Big Bend area of Florida in late September and then spread flooding to the Appalachian Mountains, wreaking havoc across the region. Almost half of all hurricane deaths resulted from drownings caused by storm surges and inland flooding.

Hurricane Milton also threatens to cause wind damage in the northern two-thirds of Florida's citrus belt, according to Commodity Weather Group. Orange juice futures traded in New York rose as much as 4.3 per cent on Monday. For the second time in a fortnight, Amtrak cancelled some trains in Florida and stopped others in Jacksonville, the federally funded rail carrier said.

US natural gas futures extended declines on Tuesday as Milton headed towards Florida's west coast. Traders predict a drop in gas demand for power plants if the storm interrupts electricity. Meanwhile, Chevron Corp. halted oil production on the Blind Faith platform in the Gulf ahead of the hurricane.

In addition to Milton, the hurricane centre is now observing an area of low pressure between the east coast of Florida and the Bahamas that has a 20% chance of becoming a tropical cyclone next week.