Hurricane Milton has rapidly intensified into a category five storm as it tears its way towards the US Gulf Coast, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has said. Ferocious winds of up to 160mph (250km/h) have been recorded as Milton heads towards Florida, where it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, the NHC said. Floridians have been told to prepare for the state's largest evacuation effort for years, with Governor Ron DeSantis warning that time for people to evacuate is running out very quickly. Warnings over Hurricane Milton come just 10 days after Hurricane Helene - the deadliest mainland storm since Katrina in 2005 - pummelled through the US south-east, killing at least 225 people. Hundreds of others are still missing. At least 14 of those deaths were in Florida, where 51 of 67 counties are now under emergency warnings as Milton approaches. Hurricanes are separated into five categories based on their wind speed. Those reaching category