Hurricane Milton threatens economic and political chaos

American history has been shaped by hurricanes. Florida was colonized by Spain and not France because of a hurricane.

More importantly, the ever-present threat of hurricanes in the Caribbean caused France, an ally of the United States in the Revolutionary War, to reposition its fleet from the Caribbean to ports in what is now the state of Virginia. When Gen. Charles Cornwallis moved his army to Jamestown on a peninsula of Virginia, the French fleet was well positioned to blockade his forces and compel his surrender to the army of George Washington.