Hurricane Milton remains a ferocious storm that could land a once-in-a-century direct hit on Tampa and St. Petersburg, engulfing the populous region with towering storm surges and turning debris from Helene’s devastation 12 days ago into projectiles.

Hurricane Milton strengthened into an extremely dangerous Category Five hurricane today, growing from Tropical Storm strength just one day ago and undergoing one of the fastest rapid intensification processes of all time in the North Atlantic.

Four years ago, a disaster planning project called "Hurricane Phoenix" imagined what the worst-case scenario would be for a hurricane hitting Tampa. The result looks a lot like some of the forecasts for the region as Hurricane Milton approaches.