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A severe solar storm is headed to Earth that could stress power grids even more as the U.S. deals with major back-to-back hurricanes, space weather forecasters said Wednesday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch for Thursday into Friday after an outburst from the sun was detected earlier this week. Such a storm could temporarily disrupt power and radio signals. (Dunn, 10/10)

The long-dreaded big one is about to reach Florida. And the expected billions in damage from Hurricane Milton could also wreck the state’s still fragile insurance market and potentially disrupt the state’s economy. The storm-prone state has been reeling from insurance problems for years, including spiking premiums for homeowners and insurers retreating completely from the state. Despite some fixes that lawmakers and the industry hoped will stabilize the market, a major storm hitting a heavily populated area — like Milton is projected to do — could erase any progress and send the market into a tailspin. (Fineout, 10/9)

As Florida's Gulf Coast experiences two major hurricanes -- Helene and Milton -- within two weeks, health officials are calling attention to the health risks of the floodwaters left behind by the storms. This week, the Florida Department of Health issued an advisory warning residents to avoid floodwaters in order to prevent exposure to Vibrio vulnificus, a potentially life-threatening bacteria. (Kindelan, 10/9)

Hurricane Milton is set to test the resilience of home-based care providers along the west coast of Florida. While hundreds of healthcare sites reported evacuations ahead of the hurricane, some companies that provide care to patients where they live, including CenterWell and Medically Home, continued to send staff into patients’ homes in the hours before the storm hit. Many home-based care companies are ready to activate contingency plans to keep providing care to patients during and after the hurricane. (Eastabrook, 10/9)

Hurricane Milton is marching closer, promising to leave devastation in its wake. But help is here. The Tampa Bay Times will be regularly updating this list of ways for residents to find up-to-date-information on everything from road closures to power outages, plus where to find food, WiFi, support and more. (George and Calise, 10/10)

As emergency crews respond in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton over the next few days, they’ll have to deal with a lot of dangers in the damage along the Gulf Coast — downed power lines, unstable ruins, leaking natural gas tanks and pipe lines, chemical spills and more. There is one other growing concern that is unique to coastal areas in Florida and other hurricane zones — the spontaneous combustion of electrical vehicles flooded by the salty storm surge. (Miznazi, 10/10)