'Astonishing' how fast Hurricane Milton has intensified, WMO meteorologist says An expanding Hurricane Milton closed in on Florida's west coast on Wednesday, spawning tornados and lashing the region with rain and wind hours ahead of its expected landfall near Tampa Bay, where it could deliver a life-threatening surge of seawater to waterfront communities already battered by Hurricane Helene. FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney speaks to James Douris, a meteorologist in the Disaster Risk Reduction division of the World Meteorological Organization.