Washington | Hurricane Milton slammed into Florida’s west coast on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT), packing winds of up to 205km/h that claimed lives, destroyed homes, whipped up flash flooding and left at least 2 million people without power.

Although weakening from a peak Category 5 as it made landfall near Tampa, the cyclone left a trail of destruction across some coastal areas not yet recovered from the devastation of Hurricane Helene, which claimed more than 200 lives.