The The swirling gray of Hurricane Milton It is captured in the Gulf of Mexico in this shot from the Cooperative Institute for Atmospheric Research. In October, Milton became one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico, packing winds of 175 miles per hour. Once it made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm, it caused storm surge and flooding that damaged homes and power lines. It killed at least 35 people, 32 in the US and three in Mexico.