A state of emergency has been declared in Florida ahead of Milton, which is forecast to plow into the western peninsula on Wednesday as a major hurricane

This comes just days after the devastating Hurricane Helene caused extensive damage to the region earlier this month.

Milton, another significant tropical threat to the US, is lurking in the Gulf of Mexico, AccuWeather experts have reported.

These weather experts say impacts ranging from a devastating storm surge to major flooding from rain, damaging wind gusts, pounding surf and tornadoes are expected in Florida.

Because of the risk, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency and is urging that preparations to protect life and property should begin immediately.

“This is an unusual and extremely concerning forecast track for a hurricane approaching the Tampa Bay area,” warned AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter.

“Milton could rapidly intensify into a major hurricane with extreme impacts. This hurricane could create a life-threatening storm surge,” he said.

AccuWeather meteorologists reported Monday that before Milton moves ashore in Florida, it will have ample time to rapidly strengthen over the very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. T

"The ocean heat content is at the highest level on record for this time of year in the Gulf, despite the recent passage of Helene," added AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Forecaster Alex DaSilva.

"The deep, warm waters can act like rocket fuel for Milton, allowing for rapid intensification."

The threat posed by heavy rain will precede Milton's arrival by several days. Heavy rain was already falling over the Florida peninsula this weekend, and will continue through the early part of the week, well ahead of impacts from wind and storm surge.

Milton is the thirteenth named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. Hurricanes Kirk and Leslie were also churning across the open Atlantic as of late this weekend, though neither pose an immediate, direct threat to land.

Rescuers in Nepal searched Tuesday for two dozen people still missing and tried to recover the bodies of those killed in weekend flooding and landslides that left more than 200 dead.

The disaster came just ahead of the country’s biggest festival Dasain, which begins on Thursday, and roads were busier than usual as people returned home to celebrate with loved ones. The damage to roads is likely to hamper travel plans, Associated Press reported.

The deaths climbed to 224 and the injured to 158 while rescue efforts were underway to look for 24 others, said the government’s chief secretary Eak Narayan Aryal on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli’s administration has been heavily criticized for its slow response to the crisis, particularly after a landslide hit several vehicles stranded for hours just 16 kilometers from the capital, Kathmandu, killing about three dozen people.

Oli told reporters the government would continue to look for those missing and help the thousands impacted.

As the weather improved, workers started clearing the highways by the mountains after being blocked by landslides. Sections of several other highways next to raging rivers were washed away and repairing them is expected to require time and effort.

Of the 37 highways damaged, only nine have so far reopened for traffic.

The flooding was caused by heavy rain which arrived at the end of Nepal’s monsoon season that usually begins in June and ends by mid-September. Experts have attributed Nepal’s changing rain pattern to climate change. 

Authorities across a wide swath of the southeastern United States faced the daunting task on Saturday of cleaning up from Hurricane Helene, one of the most powerful to hit the country, as the death toll continued to rise.

At least 43 deaths were reported by late on Friday, and officials feared still more bodies would be discovered across several states, Reuters reported.

Helene, downgraded late on Friday to a post-tropical cyclone, continued to produce heavy rains across several states, sparking life-threatening flooding that threatened to create dam failures that could inundate entire towns.

In Florida's Pinellas County near Tampa, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said he had never seen destruction like that which Helene wrought. "I would just describe it, having spent the last few hours out there, as a war zone," Gualtieri told a press conference.

At least 3.5 million customers remained without power across five states, with authorities warning it could be several days before services were fully restored.

Scientists say climate change contributes to fueling stronger, more destructive hurricanes.

Before moving north through Georgia and into Tennessee and the Carolinas, Helene hit Florida's Big Bend region as a powerful Category 4 hurricane on Thursday night, packing 140 mph (225 kph) winds. It left behind a chaotic landscape of overturned boats in harbors, felled trees, submerged cars and flooded streets.

Police and firefighters carried out thousands of water rescues throughout the affected states on Friday.

More than 50 people were rescued from the roof of a hospital in Unicoi County, Tennessee, about 120 miles (200 km) northeast of Knoxville, state officials said, after floodwaters swamped the rural community.

Rising waters from the Nolichucky River prevented ambulances and emergency vehicles from evacuating patients and others there, the Unicoi County Emergency Management Agency said on social media. Emergency crews in boats and helicopters were conducting rescues.

Elsewhere in Tennessee, Rob Mathis, the mayor of Cocke County, ordered the evacuation of downtown Newport because of a potential failure at the nearby Walters dam.

In western North Carolina, Rutherford County emergency officials warned residents near the Lake Lure Dam that it might fail, although they said late on Friday that failure did not appear imminent.

In nearby Buncombe County, landslides forced interstates 40 and 26 to close, the county said on X.