Tropical Storm Milton was gaining speed and growing more powerful Sunday as it rolled through the Gulf of Mexico on a track that imperils areas of the Florida Peninsula still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Helene.

MIAMI (AP) — People across Florida were given notice Sunday that Milton, for now just a tropical storm off the coast of Mexico, could intensify rapidly into a major hurricane before slamming midweek into the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast.

"Given the track over the very deep warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and little shear for the next couple of days, rapid intensification is explicitly forecast," NHC hurricane specialist Eric Blake said at 10 a.