The catastrophic storm – one of the largest ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico – strengthened to an “extremely dangerous ” Category 4 hurricane on Thursday with maximum-sustained winds of 140 mph impacting Florida’s Big Bend, according to the National Hurricane Center.
As of early Friday, Helene had knocked out power to more than a million homes and businesses in the Sunshine State, according to poweroutage.us.
The eye of the storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in the Florida Big Bend region around 11:10 p.m. just east of the mouth of the Aucilla River – about 10 miles west-southwest of Perry, Florida.
The storm weakened to Category 2 hurricane as it raced into Georgia, but was still packing a punch with 110 mph winds, forecasters said
Before Helene made landfall, a driver was killed in Ybor City outside Tampa Bay when a sign fell on top of their vehicle, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis and reports.
And in Georgia, two people died in a possible tornado from Helene’s outer bands as the storm bore down on the coast.
Experts have also warned that a large stretch of the Florida Panhandle could see “unsurvivable” storm surge of up to 20 feet.
Helene will bring torrential rainfall – approximately 6 to 12 inches of rain – leading to potentially life-threatening flash and urban flooding, along with significant river flooding, to Florida and beyond, including two distinct areas of the rare level 4 of 4 excessive rainfall risk throughout the Southeast, weather officials said.
A state of emergency has been declared in 61 of Florida’s 67 counties, and several in the storm’s path are under evacuation orders.
Extreme wind damage is also expected up the Florida coast along I-95 into Tennessee, with widespread power outages likely.
After making landfall, Helene is expected to turn northwestward and slow down over the Tennessee Valley on Friday and Saturday. Some additional strengthening is possible, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm should weaken as it moves inland but the fast forward speed will allow strong, damaging winds, especially in gusts, to impale well inland across the southeastern United States, including over the higher terrain of the southern Appalachians.
Tornado warning were also issued throughout Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.
Helene will likely break “all the records we have” for the size of hurricanes modern era,” FOX Weather meteorologist Cody Braud told The Post.
“We’re talking an expansive area compared to a typical storm, where maybe the tropical storm force winds only extend 100 or 150 miles out from the center,” Braud said.
“This one is essentially double that, maybe getting close to almost three times as large as a normal storm we see move through the Gulf.”
Helene – which formed Tuesday in the Caribbean Sea – developed an eye in the early Thursday morning, satellite images showed – which indicated that the storm was continuing to gather strength over the very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Florida has 3,500 National Guard soldiers ready to respond to the storm, as well as 200 Florida High Patrol troopers at the ready and 550 generators and 40 large pumps from the Florida Departments of Transportation, NBC News reported.
Helene already swamped parts of Yucatan Peninsula on Wednesday, flooding streets and toppling trees as it passed offshore and brushed the resort city of Cancun.
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