Hurricane Milton, now a Category 5 storm, threatens an already-battered Florida

• Hurricane Milton has intensified into a Category 5 storm, the highest classification.
• It’s set to make landfall on Wednesday in Florida, which is still reeling from Hurricane Helene.
• Milton is expected to smash into the state as federal disaster funds are already running out.

Floridians are bracing for another serious storm as they recover from the last one.

Hurricane Milton intensified into a Category 5 storm — the most severe classification — in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday and is expected to make landfall in Florida on Wednesday.

That’s less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene tore through the state along the Gulf Coast on its way into Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The severe flooding in those states stretched funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency — and another storm could put further strain on the federal disaster agency.

Milton reached peak wind speeds of 160 mph on Monday, the National Hurricane Center said, and is expected to create “a life-threatening storm surge” along Florida’s west coast near Tampa Bay.

Heavy rainfall beginning on Monday could result in moderate to major river-flooding risks, the center said.

The state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, issued a state of emergency for 51 counties on Sunday, and millions of Floridians could soon be under orders to evacuate.

DeSantis also said Monday that debris from Helene must be cleared to avoid being kicked up again by Milton, The Associated Press reported.

Helene caused over 220 deaths, and Moody’s Analytics estimated its damage could total between $20 billion and $34 billion.

The timing is problematic for federal agencies. The secretary of homeland security, Alejandro Mayorkas, told reporters last week that FEMA did not have enough funds to make it through hurricane season, which runs through the end of November, the AP reported.

President Joe Biden suggested last week Congress may need to pass a supplemental spending bill, though members are not expected to return to Washington until after the election.

In a letter to congressional leaders on Friday, Biden said FEMA had the resources it needed for the “immediate emergency response phase” in the wake of Helene but that the Small Business Administration’s disaster-loan program was on the verge of running out of money.

And that was before Milton intensified in the Gulf Coast and threatened to deal Florida another crushing blow.

The succession of weather events has also underscored the rising cost of home insurance in Florida, the most at-risk state for hurricanes, with premiums skyrocketing.

While Florida remains one of the most popular states to move to, Business Insider previously reported that the high cost of insurance — and homes — had caused some to reconsider their residency in the state.