Florida braces for Hurricane Milton with cancellations and closures

Airlines, energy firms and a Universal Studios theme park were among the companies beginning to halt their Florida operations as they braced for disruptions with Hurricane Milton set to make landfall on Wednesday.

The hurricane has rapidly intensified into one of the area’s most powerful on record, threatening a stretch of Florida’s densely populated west coast that is still reeling from the devastating Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago.

As of Tuesday afternoon, 1,311 flights within, into, or out of the United States were delayed, and 701 were canceled, with that number expected to rise, according to flight-tracking-data provider FlightAware.