‘Here we go again’: Milton becomes a hurricane and is expected to strengthen as Floridians reel from Helene

(CNN) —& Florida is bracing as Hurricane Milton rapidly intensified into a Category 1 storm on Sunday, days before it’s expected to make landfall on the state’s Gulf Coast while communities are still dealing with the effects of Hurricane& Helene.While the state is clearing debris from& Helene& — which made landfall September 26 on Florida’s Big Bend as a Category 4 and created a& 500-mile path of destruction& with catastrophic flooding and damaging winds — it will now contend with Milton.The storm is boasting top sustained wind speeds of 80 mph,& according to the 2 p.m. ET advisory from the National Hurricane Center. At that time, the storm was about 815 miles west-southwest of Tampa, Florida.It is expected to make landfall on Wednesday on the Gulf Coast of Florida as a destructive and life-threatening Category 3 with 120 mph winds between Cedar Key and Naples, which includes the entire Tampa Bay area. Hurricane and storm surge watches will likely be issued for parts of the western Florida coast on Sunday — with dangerous storm surge expected for some areas just slammed by Helene.Miami, Orlando and Tampa are each forecast to receive four to eight inches of rain through Thursday. That...