Tallahassee prepares for “historic event” as Helene nears Florida

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Residents of Florida’s capital city prepared to evacuate their homes and stock up on sandbags, food and supplies Wednesday as Hurricane Helene headed toward the Gulf Coast, as the city’s mayor said it could be “the most powerful hurricane in recorded history. ” Tallahassee area.

Helene was forecast to become a dangerous Category 4 hurricane on Wednesday night before making landfall in the Big Bend area of ​​Florida on Thursday evening. It could bring winds in excess of 130 mph, life-threatening storm surge and flooding.

“I need everyone to take this storm extremely seriously. This is the largest storm in the history of the city of Tallahassee to hit us head-on,” Mayor John Dailey told NBC News Wednesday night. “We are very prepared, but I am very nervous and I hope everyone is nervous. This is a big storm. It will cause a lot of damage.”

Several Florida counties are under mandatory evacuation orders and millions of people are under flood watch.

Leslie Powell, 37, was preparing to evacuate her mobile home in Quincy, a Gadsden County town about 40 miles northwest of Tallahassee, with her 8-month-old baby and 6-year-old daughter Wednesday afternoon. A voluntary evacuation order has been issued for Gadsden County, with officials asking people living in mobile homes to find shelter elsewhere.

“I’m scared,” said Powell, who planned to go to a shelter. “I have a lot of trees around my house so it’s not safe for me and my kids.”

Dailey warned residents early Wednesday that the city could suffer “unprecedented damage like nothing we’ve ever experienced as a community” if the storm continues on its current track.

As of 5:00 PM ET Wednesday, it was expected to move through the eastern Gulf of Mexico and reach the Florida coast by Thursday evening, picking up speed along the way.

“Weakening is expected after landfall, but Helene’s fast forward speed will allow strong and damaging winds, especially in gusts, to penetrate well into the interior of the southeastern United States, including higher ground in the southern Appalachians,” he said. said the National Hurricane Center.

Dailey said Tallahassee, which over the years has managed to avoid many of the devastating blows that have hit other Florida cities, was on the verge of “a historic event.” Officials said it could lead to power outages, downed trees and structural damage that could take weeks or months to recover from.

“If the city of Tallahassee is hit directly by a Category 3 hurricane, it will be the strongest hurricane in recorded history to ever hit our community. The current forecast continues to place us squarely in the cone of Hurricane Helene,” Dailey said at a news conference Wednesday, before the forecast showed it could become a stronger Category 4 storm.

“Now is the time to get ready,” Dailey said. “We don’t have time to wait anymore. Today is the day.”

There were no shortage of residents on Wednesday who responded to calls for preparation.

By Wednesday morning, more than 17,000 sandbags had been distributed at the three locations set up by the city.

Leroy Peck, 66, was among many who spent part of the day bagging sand in a parking lot outside a community center. He had already filled his cars with gas and made a grocery run.

“We’ve seen some storms, but usually we’re on the edge and this is expected to be a direct hit, so it kind of adds to the anxiety,” said Peck, a retired police lieutenant. “I dodged bullets for a long time and I think I ran out of luck.

“It’s something that needs to be taken seriously, so we’re monitoring the weather and just trying to make sure friends and neighbors are OK,” he added.

Peck said he will ride out the storm with his mother-in-law and 8-year-old son, while his wife works as an emergency dispatcher.

Across town, there were other signs of the coming storm. The city has announced that it will not collect trash or recycle on Thursday and Friday.

Tallahassee International Airport said it would suspend operations starting Thursday and resume when it is safe to do so.

Three major colleges, Florida State University, Florida A&M University and Tallahassee State College, have canceled classes for the rest of the week.

The city announced Tuesday that mutual aid teams from several states were expected to arrive Wednesday evening to help with response and recovery efforts.

Major Thornton III, 29, said he and his family planned to evacuate their apartment and stay with family further south.

“I heard the storm is getting stronger, so why stay? Just play it safe. No harm in protecting yourself and leaving,” he said as he stood shoveling sandbags Wednesday. “You have to protect the family.”

Several residents said the looming storm brought back memories of Hurricane Michael, which made landfall as a Category 5 storm before weakening on land. The storm hit Tallahassee in 2018 and caused widespread power outages throughout the area.

Powell said it was very difficult to get back to her home because of downed trees and debris blocking roads, plus she was without power for more than a week.

“It was just awful,” she said.

Peck said he hopes the storm taught residents not to be complacent about their safety and to be prepared to be without power for a while.

Latoya Williams, 40, said that as a longtime resident of Florida, she wasn’t afraid of the storm, but was making the appropriate preparations and evacuating with her husband and children from their mobile home to a hotel.

“The house can be replaced. We cannot be replaced. As long as I have my family, all of us together, we’re good,” she said.