Category 4 hurricane Helene is poised to hit Florida’s Gulf Coast with waves of up to 20 feet

By Heather Hollingsworth and Stephen Smith, The Associated Press

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A massive hurricane Helene flooded parts of Mexico on Wednesday as it churned on a path that forecasters said would take Florida as a major storm with a surge that could swallow entire homes, a chilling warning that made the inhabitants look higher. land, closed schools and led to states of emergency throughout the Southeast.

Helene’s center was about 460 miles (735 kilometers) southwest of Tampa, Florida, the US National Hurricane Center said, and the hurricane was expected to intensify and grow as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico toward the Big Bend area on Florida’s northwest coast. Landing was expected Thursday evening.

The hurricane could create a storm surge of up to 20 feet (6.1 meters) in parts of the Big Bend region, forecasters said. Its tropical storm-force winds extended as far as 345 miles (555 kilometers) from its center.

The storm’s fast-moving wind and rain could also move far inland: The hurricane center posted hurricane warnings as far north as Georgia and tropical storm warnings as far north as North Carolina, and warned that much of from the southeast could suffer extended power outages, downed trees. and dangerous flooding.

“Hope and pray that everyone is safe,” said Connie Dillard, of Tallahassee, as she shopped at a grocery store with thin shelves of water and bread before exiting the freeway out of town. “That’s all you can do.”

An insurance firm, Gallagher Re, expects billions of dollars in damages in the US. About 18,000 out-of-state arbitrators have organized in Florida, ready to help restore power. Airports in St. Petersburg, Tallahassee and Tampa planned to close Thursday, and 62 hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities evacuated their residents Wednesday.

Georgia has activated 250 National Guard soldiers for rapid deployment. State rangers, forest rangers and Department of Correction crews will assist with rapid water rescue and other emergency responses.

State Meteorologist Will Lanxton said tropical storm force winds are expected across Georgia. Lanxton said metro Atlanta hasn’t seen tropical storm-force winds since Hurricane Irma in 2017.

“I think we’re going to see some significant power outages, probably nothing like we’ve seen because it’s 159 counties wide,” said James Stallings, director of the Georgia Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.

As of 7:00 p.m. EDT, Helene was moving north at 12 mph (19 km/h) with sustained winds of 85 mph (140 km/h) and was expected to intensify over warm Gulf waters. Forecasters said it could become a major Category 4 hurricane with winds of more than 130 mph (177 km/h).

In Tallahassee, where stations began running out of gas, 19-year-old Florida A&M student Kameron Benjamin filled sandbags with his roommate to protect their apartment before evacuating. Their school and the state of Florida shut down.

“This hurricane is headed straight for Tallahassee, so I don’t know what to expect,” Benjamin said.

As Big Bend residents tore down their homes, many saw the ghost of Hurricane Michael of 2018. That storm quickly intensified and came ashore as a Category 5, devastating Panama City and parts of the rural Panhandle.

“People are taking notice and getting it out of there for higher ground,” said Kristin Korinko, a Tallahassee resident who serves as commodore of the Shell Point Sailboard Club on the Gulf Coast, about 30 miles (48 kilometers ) south of Tallahassee.

For die-hard Floridians who are used to hurricanes, Robbie Berg, a national hurricane warning coordinator for the center, advised, “Please don’t compare it to other storms that you may have experienced in the last year or two .”

Helene is expected to be one of the largest high-latitude storms to hit the region in years, said Phil Klotzbach, a researcher at Colorado State University. He said since 1988, only three Gulf hurricanes have been larger than Helene’s predicted size: Irma in 2017, Wilma in 2005 and Opal in 1995.

Areas 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of the Georgia-Florida line can expect hurricane conditions. Nearly half of Georgia’s public school districts and several universities have canceled classes.

And for Atlanta, which is under a tropical storm watch, Helene could be the worst blow to a major city in the southern interior in 35 years, said Marshall Shepherd, a meteorology professor at the University of Georgia.

“It’s going to be very similar to Hugo in Charlotte,” Shepherd said of the 1989 storm that battered the North Carolina city, knocking out power to 85 percent of customers as hurricane-force winds whipped up.

Landslides were possible in southern Appalachia, with catastrophic flooding forecast in the Carolinas and Georgia, where all three governors declared states of emergency. Rain is even possible in Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana.

Parts of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula were under hurricane warnings as Helene turned between it and the western tip of Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico. The storm formed in the Caribbean on Tuesday and flooded streets and toppled trees as it moved offshore and battered the resort city of Cancun.

In Cuba, authorities moved cattle to higher ground and medical teams went to communities often blocked by storms. The government shut off power to some communities as a precaution as waves of up to 16 feet (5 meters) hit the Gulf of Cortes. In the Cayman Islands, schools remained closed as residents pumped water from flooded homes.

In the US, federal authorities have positioned generators, food and water, along with search and rescue and power restoration teams.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned that Helene could be as strong as a Category 4 hurricane when it makes landfall. The state was providing buses to evacuate people from the Big Bend region and take them to shelters in Tallahassee.

But near central Florida, outside Orlando, Walt Disney World said its only closings Thursday would be its Typhoon Lagoon water park and its miniature golf courses.

Helene is the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began on June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year due to record warm ocean temperatures.

In the Pacific, ex-Hurricane John reformed as a tropical storm on Wednesday and strengthened as it threatened areas of the west coast of Mexico. Officials posted hurricane warnings for southwestern Mexico.

John hit the country’s South Pacific coast late Monday, killing at least two people, triggering mudslides and destroying homes and trees. It became a Category 3 hurricane within hours and made landfall east of Acapulco. It reappeared over the ocean after weakening inland.

Associated Press reporters Seth Borenstein in New York; Jeff Amy in Atlanta; Danica Coto of San Juan, Puerto Rico; Andrea Rodríguez in Havana; Mark Stevenson and María Verza in Mexico City; and Claire Rush in Portland, Ore., contributed to this report. Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas.