National News

(REDINGTON BEACH, Fla.) -- As Hurricane Milton churns closer, Floridians are still picking up the pieces from Hurricane Helene's devastation late last month.Debris left from Helene, still in the process of being removed, is likely to pose significant dangers as the next one prepares to make landfall, officials say.On Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said 1,200 truckloads of debris had already been removed, but flood-ruined furniture and downed trees remain […]

ABC News (MARCO ISLAND, Fla.) -- Marco Island, a barrier island off southwest Florida, is under a mandatory evacuation ahead of Hurricane Milton's anticipated landfall late Wednesday.Though not everyone has evacuated.Michael Sean Comerford, 65, told ABC News he decided to stay and watch his parents' condo on the 23rd floor of a building while they evacuated to Naples, where his sister lives."I'm prepared," he said Wednesday. "The island is closed. […]

Joe Raedle/Getty Images (SARASOTA, Fla.) -- While it's still hours away from making landfall and has yet to cause any damage, Hurricane Milton is already rewriting the record books, officials said."I think for the west-central coast of Florida, this has the potential to be the most impactful hurricane we've seen in living memory, given the scope of the impacts from the storm surge," Mike Brennan, director of the National Hurricane […]

Thomas Simonetti for The Washington Post via Getty Images (TALLAHASSEE, FL.) -- Storm surge is a major threat from Hurricane Milton, which is set to make landfall on Florida's west coast as a Category 4 hurricane Wednesday night.A dangerous, record-breaking storm surge of up to 12 feet is expected for Tampa Bay and Fort Myers. Storm surge could reach a life-threatening 15 feet near Sarasota.Here is how storm surge works […]

Hurricane Milton is already causing travel disruptions as the storm takes aim at Florida's west coast.The hurricane is expected to make landfall as a Category 3 hurricane Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. Possible record storm surge is anticipated in the Tampa area. Flooding is also a risk throughout much of the state.Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued for at least parts of 14 counties along Florida’s west coast, including […]

(TALLAHASSEE, FL) -- Hurricane Milton, which re-strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane Tuesday afternoon, is taking aim at Florida's west coast. Landfall is expected late Wednesday night as a Category 3 hurricane.Milton is closing in as Floridians are still recovering from the devastation unleashed by Hurricane Helene.Over a dozen counties issue mandatory evacuation ordersMandatory evacuation orders have been issued in parts of over a dozen Florida counties: Charlotte, Citrus, Collier, […]

(TAMPA, Fla.) -- As Danny Pownall looked through the piles of debris on the street in front of one of his rental properties in Redington Shores, Florida, he pointed out suitcases, beds and even a workout ball."Their lives just got flipped upside down, literally, and dumped on the street," he said of residents still recovering from Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in Florida on Sept. 30 and then cut a […]

(WASHINGTON) -- A first-of-its-kind survey has found that 3.3% of U.S. high school students identified as transgender in 2023, with another 2.2% identified as questioning.The first nationally representative survey from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also highlights the multiple health disparities faced by transgender students who may experience gender dysphoria, stigma, discrimination, social marginalization or violence because they do not conform to social expectations of gender, the […]

(TAMPA, Fla.) -- It has been more than 100 years since Florida's Tampa Bay area – a region especially vulnerable to storm surge and flooding – faced a direct hit by a hurricane.But Hurricane Milton is now heading straight for Florida's Gulf Coast, with landfall and a 15-foot storm surge possible in Tampa by late Wednesday night, meaning residents are racing to evacuate ahead of the storm even as they […]