Hurricane Milton set to hit US – as Florida prepares for biggest evacuation in seven years
Florida is preparing for its largest evacuation in seven years as the US state braces for the arrival of Hurricane Milton.
The weather system, which strengthened from a tropical storm to a hurricane on Sunday, is forecast to make landfall in the US on Wednesday.
The hurricane, which is currently sweeping east across the Gulf of Mexico, is predicted to hit the Tampa Bay area before travelling over Orlando.
It comes after more than 200 people were killed when Hurricane Helene tore across southeastern US, including parts of Florida, late last month.
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Before and after Hurricane Helene
Forecasters say some affected areas will likely be hit again, worsening the damage caused less than a fortnight ago.
Kevin Guthrie, director of Florida’s emergency management division, warned that residents should prepare for the “largest evacuation that we have seen most likely since 2017 Hurricane Irma“.
He added: “I highly encourage you to evacuate.”
A man prepares a sandbag with his children in Pinellas County, Florida. Pic: Reuters
In 2017, around seven million people were ordered to flee their homes in Florida ahead of Hurricane Irma, which ended up killing more than 130 people in the state.
The mass evacuation caused long traffic jams on motorways and major queues at petrol stations.
Officials say they have learnt lessons from the chaotic scenes in 2017, and will have emergency fuel stations and charging points for electric vehicles along evacuation routes.
Near-empty shelves at a Walmart in Tampa ahead of Milton’s arrival. Pic: Reuters
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned power cuts were likely and that debris caused by Hurricane Helene would “increase dramatically”.
He added: “I don’t think there’s any scenario where we don’t have major impacts at this point.
“You have time to prepare – all day today, all day Monday, probably all day Tuesday to be sure your hurricane preparedness plan is in place.
“If you’re on that west coast of Florida, barrier islands, just assume you’ll be asked to leave.”
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Pinellas County, which includes the city of St Petersburg, is likely to issue mandatory evacuations for more than 500,000 people in the lowest-lying areas on Monday, officials told a news conference.
Evacuations have already been ordered for six hospitals, 25 nursing homes and 44 assisted living facilities in the county.
Empty sandbags are distributed to motorists in Pinellas County. Pic: Reuters
St Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said: “We already will be rebuilding for years because of Hurricane Helene, and that will be exacerbated by the impacts of this storm.
“Remember, Hurricane Helene was 100 miles away from us, moving in a different direction. This is a powerful category two or three hurricane headed directly for us.”
A hurricane alert has also been issued for the northern coast of Mexico‘s Yucatan Peninsula.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, US President Joe Biden announced a further 500 active-duty soldiers would be sent to North Carolina to help with Hurricane Helene recovery efforts, bringing the total to 1,500 troops.
More than $137m (£104m) in federal aid for the region has also been approved so far.
Elon Musk has criticised US President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill, calling it “outrageous” and a “disgusting abomination”.
The bill, which includes multi-trillion-dollar tax breaks, was passed by the House Republicans in May, and has been described by the president as a “big, beautiful bill”.
The tech billionaire hit out at the tax cuts on his platform X, writing: “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore.
“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
Elon Musk left his ‘special government employee’ role last week. Pic: AP.
In American politics, “pork” is a political metaphor used when government spending is allocated to local projects, usually to benefit politicians’ constituencies.
Musk left the administration abruptly last week after working to cut costs with his team, the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency – known as DOGE – with the ambition of sacking federal workers and cutting red tape.
The White House brushed Musk’s comments aside, claiming they did not surprise the president.
In a press conference on Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill”.
She added: “This is one, big, beautiful bill.
“And he’s sticking to it.”
The White House on Tuesday asked Congress to cut back $9.4bn in already approved spending, taking money away from DOGE.
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What did Musk achieve at DOGE?
The billionaire tweeted: “It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!!) and burden American citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”
He also suggested voting out politicians who advanced the president’s tax bill.
“In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” Musk wrote in another X post.
How Musk’s mission to cut government spending fell flat
Last Thursday, Musk revealed on X that his scheduled time as a “special government employee” was coming to an end.
Before the news broke, Musk’s father told Sky News his son was “not a very good politician”.
But speaking to Gillian Joseph on The World, Errol Musk insisted there was “no rift between Elon and Donald Trump”.
Musk’s time at DOGE was controversial, with drastic cuts to America’s humanitarian efforts sparking particular criticism.
Questions have also been raised about whether the department has actually saved taxpayers as much money as suggested.
Musk initially had ambitions to slash government spending by $2trn (£1.5trn) – but this was dramatically reduced to $1trn (£750bn) and then to just $150bn (£111bn).
Elon Musk brought his son X Æ A-12 to the Oval Office during a press conference earlier this year. Pic: Reuters.
The 53-year-old, who famously brought his son X Æ A-12 to the Oval Office, also expressed frustration about resistance to his ideas and clashed with other senior members of the Trump administration.
He recently told The Washington Post: “The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realised. I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC to say the least.”
By law, status as a “special government employee” means he could only serve for a maximum of 130 days, which would have ended around 30 May.
The family of the man accused of throwing petrol bombs at a pro-Israel group in Colorado have been taken into custody.
Immigration officers detained Mohamed Soliman’s relatives, believed to be his wife and five children.
Soliman, an Egyptian national, moved to the US three years ago and lived in Colorado Springs but was there illegally after his visa and work authorisation expired. He reportedly has two teenage children and three younger children.
“We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it,” said homeland security secretary Kristi Noem on X.
Soliman, 45, is being held after Molotov cocktails were thrown at a group doing a walk for Israeli hostages in Boulder on Sunday.
The attacker allegedly yelled “Free Palestine” and had a total of 18 petrol bombs – but police said he “got scared” and only tossed a couple.
Soliman also had a makeshift flamethrower in the form of gas in a backpack sprayer, according to a FBI statement, but told investigators he did not use it.
Twelve people were injured, authorities said. The victims were aged between 52 and 88 and three of them were still being treated in hospital on Tuesday.
Mohamed Soliman appeared with a bandaged ear in a mugshot. Pic: Boulder Police Dept.
Soliman was allegedly dressed as a gardener to get as close as he could to the small group. Authorities said he told them he had no regrets.
He has been charged with a hate crime and 16 counts of attempted murder in federal and state cases.
Court papers said he planned the attack for a year and told authorities that no one, including his family, was aware of the plot.
Video showed Soliman being arrested at the scene and an apparent burn mark on the ground
An FBI statement said Soliman left an iPhone hidden in a drawer at his home with messages for his family but that his wife handed it to police.
The family are said to be cooperating with investigators.
Soliman admitted taking gun training to try to get a permit but was denied as he wasn’t a US citizen, according to police and the FBI.
Barred from buying a firearm, he allegedly used YouTube to learn how to make petrol bombs.
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Law enforcement searched for bombs after the attack. Pic: AP
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Boulder attack was “aimed against peaceful people who wished to express their solidarity with the hostages held by Hamas, simply because they were Jews”.
The incident follows the arrest of a Chicago-born man in the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington DC last month.
Tensions are simmering in the US over Israel’s war in Gaza.
There has been an increase in antisemitic hate crime, as well as moves by some supporters of Israel to brand pro-Palestinian protests as antisemitic.
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