Hurricane Milton heads for Florida after hitting Yucatan

The Category-4 hurricane swept across Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula heading toward Florida, where it is expected to make landfall with potentially devastating impacts.

The Mexican meteorology service reported that intense rains between 75 and 150 millimeters and winds ranging from 180 to 200 km per hour would persist until tapering off in the afternoon across Yucatan.

The local government maintained orange and yellow alerts, while Merida’s airport, the state capital, resumed activities in the morning.

Hurricane Milton landed on the Mexican Caribbean coast, bringing strong winds that knocked down trees and disrupted power lines across Quintana Roo, a popular tourist destination.

With maximum sustained winds of 241 kph, Milton was downgraded from a category 5 to a category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center's latest advisory.

Milton spared Quintana Roo's beaches on its way north to Florida, but local officials said the state continues to be on moderate risk alert in the north.

Mexican Civil Protection Coordinator Laura Velazquez said during the presidential morning press conference in Mexico City that Yucatan had reported no fatalities, only minor damages such as waterlogged roads, fallen trees, and power outages on the works to be restored.

Hurricane Milton was expected to expand in size as it chugged past Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula en route to Florida's battered Gulf Coast, where more than 1 million people were ordered to evacuate before the monster storm arrived.

The storm was 209 km northeast of Progreso, a Mexican port near the Yucatan state capital of Merida, and 837 km southwest of Tampa, according to the hurricane center.