Helene strengthened into a hurricane on Wednesday as forecasters warned it could become a major Category 3 storm before it makes landfall along Florida’s Gulf Coast late Thursday.
The National Hurricane Center said Wednesday that Hurricane Helene is expected to bring “life-threatening storm surge, damaging winds, and flooding rains to a large portion of Florida and the Southeastern United States.”
With the exact area where Helene will make landfall still uncertain, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a disaster declaration for 61 of Florida’s 67 counties late Monday. What has become clear is that the storm is expected to be the strongest hurricane to hit the United States this season and could also go down in history as one of the fastest-developing storms on record.
“There is a runway for this to rapidly intensify,” DeSantis said at a press conference on Wednesday. “Make sure you’re making the best decisions for yourself and your family.”
Helene’s impacts will not be limited to the Sunshine State, the National Hurricane Center has warned.
“Considerable flash and urban flooding is expected across portions of Florida, the Southeast, southern Appalachians, and the Tennessee Valley Wednesday through Friday,” the National Hurricane Center said in a Tuesday bulletin.
Here are the latest developments from Yahoo News on the approaching storm. For liveblog updates in Spanish, click here.
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Where is the storm and what is its path?
Helene is forecast to hit the Florida Panhandle as a major hurricane on Thursday. (National Hurricane Center) According to the National Hurricane Center’s latest advisory, Tropical Storm Helene — with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph — is located about 60 miles east-northeast of Cozumel, Mexico, and 100 miles west-southwest of Cuba, and is moving northwest at 9 mph.
The storm is expected to rapidly intensify and come ashore along the Gulf Coast of Florida as a Category 3 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds exceeding 111 miles per hour.
“Damaging hurricane-force winds are expected along portions of the coast of the Florida Big Bend, where a Hurricane Warning is now in effect,” the hurricane center said. “Preparations to protect life and property should be complete by early Thursday.”
