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.

Tropical Storm Milton is predicted to continue intensifying and could begin to affect Florida early next week.

Florida is bracing for another potentially dangerous and costly hurricane less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene devastated a wide swath of the US Southeast.