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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