Florida braces for next hurricane

Storm-battered Florida girded Tuesday for a direct hit from Hurricane Milton, a monster weather system threatening catastrophic damage and forcing President Joe Biden to postpone an overseas trip.
As the second huge hurricane in as many weeks rumbled toward the US state’s west coast, a sense of looming catastrophe spread as people raced to board up homes and flee.
“It’s a matter of life and death, and that’s not hyperbole,” President Joe Biden said, urging those under orders to vacate to “evacuate now, now, now.”
Biden’s warning came amid a bitter pre-election quarrel, with his Democratic vice president Kamala Harris castigating her rival Donald Trump for peddling false claims that recovery efforts after the first storm, Hurricane Helene, were diverted away from Republicans.
As of Tuesday morning, Milton was generating maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (240 kph) and threatening up to 15 feet of storm surge, the National Hurricane Center said. AFP