Hurricane Helene was upgraded from a tropical storm Wednesday morning and will reach full intensity before making landfall in Florida on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. Here’s what to know.
A hurricane warning is in effect for Florida’s Big Bend through southwestern Georgia and Tallahassee, with storm surge warnings reaching from Indian Pass, Florida, southward to Flamingo, including Tampa and Charlotte Harbor. Tropical storm warnings extend to Atlanta and Charleston, South Carolina. Evacuations began Tuesday in Florida’s coastal areas, but mandatory evacuations are in place in Franklin, Wakulla, and Taylor counties.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) issued a state of emergency for 61 of the state’s 67 counties, urging people to take the storm’s threat seriously.
Helene is currently a Category 1 hurricane and is near Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, with maximum winds at 70 mph heading northwest. The system is traveling at an uncommonly fast pace, The hurricane will arrive in Florida’s Gulf Coast Thursday night, bringing a life-threatening storm surge, flooding rain, and damaging winds. The storm brings heightened risks of downed trees and power lines and structural damage from Tallahassee to southern Georgia on Thursday.
Power outages stretching from Florida’s Gulf Coast into Augusta are likely, with a possibility of reaching Charlotte and Knoxville.
The eastern coast of Florida from Panama City to Key West can expect intense storm surges of 3 to 10 feet if the storm hits land at high tide. These conditions, as well as tornado warnings, will push inland in the Southeast into Friday.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
On Friday, the storm is expected to travel north through the southern Appalachian Mountains and the Ohio Valley, bringing isolated tornados, strong wind gusts, and flooding rain. Appalachia poses a greater risk for flooding and landslides, and a rare “high risk” flood prediction from northeastern Georgia into western North Carolina has been issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Prediction Center.
Helene will be the latest storm to make landfall in the United States following Hurricane Debby, which hit Florida as a Category 1 hurricane in early August, and Hurricane Beryl, which hit Texas as a Category 5 hurricane in early July. Debby caused mass flooding across southeastern Florida, and Beryl had a death toll of 22 after it ravaged southeastern Texas.