Hurricane Milton Began Thrashing Florida’s West Coast

Also, Kamala Harris has already raised more than $1 billion. Here’s the latest at the end of Wednesday.

Heavy winds and intense rain from Hurricane Milton’s outer bands lashed Florida’s Gulf Coast and flooded its beaches today as the Category 3 storm neared landfall. Tornado warnings blanketed the Florida peninsula.

“The storm seemed to arrive all at once late in the morning, bringing bands of thick rain and whipping wind,” my colleague Patricia Mazzei, who reported today from Sarasota, told me.

Milton is expected to make landfall around midnight and carve a path of destruction across the center of the state. About 5.5 million people faced evacuation orders.

Forecasters cautioned that predicting its exact landfall was not yet possible, though the current projections have the storm heading toward Sarasota, which has not had a direct hit from a hurricane since 1946. Here’s the latest look at Milton’s anticipated path, and the probability different Florida cities will see damaging winds.

Experts warned that the most dangerous effect of the hurricane could be its storm surge, which could reach up to 15 feet in low-lying communities along more than 70 miles of Florida’s western coastline. Even farther inland, forecasters warned that water levels could surge to eight feet above ground. This map shows where the worst flooding is expected.

With 51 of 67 counties in Florida under a state of emergency, the Panhandle was likely the only region that would be spared any effects — a daunting prospect even for a state used to extreme weather. Patricia talked to Floridians who decided to stay put.

“The memories of Hurricane Helene’s damaging storm surge two weeks ago still seem fresh, so many people appear to have evacuated,” Patricia told me. “It was striking to see barrier islands and coastal communities so empty.”

For more: Take a look at photos and videos from Florida as Milton approached.

Harris raised more than $1 billion since entering the race

Kamala Harris, who launched her bid for president less than three months ago, has already raised more than $1 billion, according to people with knowledge of her fund-raising. No other candidate is believed to have ever raised so much money so fast. For comparison, Donald Trump has raised around $853 million so far this year.

By far the most amount of money is being spent in Pennsylvania, which is considered by both campaigns to be the state most likely to tip the election. Harris has more than 400 staff members on payroll in the state across 50 offices, and her team said that they knocked on 100,000 doors last Saturday.

On the campaign trail

The presidential election is 27 days away.

• Trump has so far opted out of the planning for a government handover, skirting ethics and fund-raising rules.
• Resistance to public health, once considered fringe, now has a firm foothold in Republican politics.
• The election is vexing Wall Street. Here’s why.

Netanyahu and Biden spoke after many weeks of silence

President Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel spoke today over the phone for the first time since August, their offices said. Details of the call were not available, but the lack of communication between the two leaders reflected their souring relationship, as Netanyahu rejects Biden’s calls for de-escalation.

The call came after Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, delayed a visit to the U.S., where he had been expected to discuss a response to Iran’s missile attack. Gallant, who has closely worked with U.S. officials in recent weeks, said Netanyahu told him to postpone the trip.

For more: New images showed the destruction in Lebanon along its border with Israel. The U.N. said that more than 900,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced.

Gangs remain firmly entrenched in Haiti

Hundreds of Kenyan police officers flew to Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, this summer to take it back from heavily armed gangs that have unraveled life in the country, killing indiscriminately, raping women and burning neighborhoods. Now the airport has reopened and street vendors are working again, but the gangs still control much of the city.

My colleagues Frances Robles and Adriana Zehbrauskas spent a day with the vastly outnumbered officers. Here’s what they saw.

More top news

• Science: Three researchers were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their use of advanced technology to predict and create proteins.
• Business: Months before the deadly Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max crash, Boeing turned aside urgent questions the carrier asked about the plane’s issues.
• Immigration: A federal appeals court will consider the future of DACA, which has shielded undocumented immigrants who arrived as minors from deportation.
• Tech: A building in Reykjavik, Iceland, that houses a penis museum is also a virtual offshore haven for perpetrators of identity theft, ransomware, disinformation and fraud.
• Trump: The former president’s family business wants to resume talks about opening hotels in Israel.
• Health: She had thoughts of harming her baby. To treat her postpartum psychosis, doctors kept them together.
• New York City: Lasker Rink and Pool, Central Park’s biggest eyesore, is poised to become one of its main attractions.

TIME TO UNWIND

The Met Gala wades into the politics of race

The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that its next blockbuster fashion show will be “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” focusing on the history of the Black dandy. ASAP Rocky, Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, Pharrell Williams and Anna Wintour will be the chairs of the gala that opens the show in the spring.

The show will be the Met’s first fashion exhibition to focus solely on the work of designers of color, as well as the first in more than two decades to focus explicitly on men’s wear.

Has Bitcoin’s creator been found?

HBO released a documentary this week in which the filmmaker Cullen Hoback tries to finally identify the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator, who has eluded sleuths for years. Hoback’s conclusion is that Peter Todd, a Canadian programmer, is behind what is now the world’s most famous cryptocurrency. But there’s no smoking gun.

More important, perhaps, the film argues that the identity of the creator, known online as Satoshi Nakamoto, actually matters — in part because Nakamoto may control an estimated $60 billion in Bitcoin. After watching it, our tech columnist Kevin Roose was left hoping that Nakamoto eventually comes forward.

Dinner table topics

• That’ll be $255: How much would you pay for this rainbow manicure?
• A glacier’s secret: A famed explorer was sure the Alaskan ice hid something profound. He was right.
• Modern love: The actor Andrew Garfield says we should all live through heartbreak.
• Gothlete: A college beach volleyball player became an online sensation for her team photo in “goth” makeup. She told us she was actually toning it down.

WHAT TO DO TONIGHT

Cook: This mushroom Wellington is a vegetarian masterpiece.

Read: These suspenseful comic books and graphic novels are perfect for Halloween season.

Listen: My colleague made a playlist of popular songs for the High Holy Days.

Look up: A “once-in-a-lifetime” comet is flaring in our night sky.

Design: Here are some tips for making your living room more inviting.

Exercise: This seven-minute workout can help relieve stress.

Play: Here are today’s Spelling Bee, Wordle and Mini Crossword. Find all of our games here.

ONE LAST THING

George Washington is funny now

Everyone knows America’s first president. But for centuries, he has been considered a bit dull — a symbol of a perfect man, not a relatable figure.

Now, more than two centuries after his death, George Washington is having a comedy moment. He has emerged as a popular figure in TikTok sketches and on “Saturday Night Live.” One Washington expert said he would have liked the depictions: In private letters, Washington liked to joke around.

Have an amusing evening.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew

Sean Kawasaki-Culligan was our photo editor today.

We welcome your feedback. Write to us at evening@nytimes.com.