United States: Helene progressed from a tropical storm into a hurricane on Wednesday morning and is set to strike Florida’s Gulf Coast in the latter half of the week as a major hurricane.
More about the news
Helene attained hurricane status 85 mi N-NW of Cozumel, Mexico, and 500 mi S-SW of Tampa, Florida.
By 11 a.m. EDT, it had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph and was moving northwest at ten mph, reported the National Hurricane Center.
The storm is predicted to intensify and become even bigger, with the Gulf of Mexico having recorded the warmest sea temperatures ever measured for this period of the year, and move toward the eastern Gulf on Wednesday.
The National Hurricane Center sounded an alarm and forecasted that the storm would bring “life-threatening storm surge, damaging winds, and flooding rain to a large portion of Florida,” CBS News reported.
More about the storm progression
There are tropical storm warnings for Florida from the Anclote River to Mexico Beach. There have also been warnings for parts of Mexico.
A storm surge warning has been posted for most of Florida, including Tampa Bay. Currently tropical storm warnings and hurricane watches include the Cuban provinces of Villa Clara, Artemisa, and La Habana, together with the US states of Florida and the Mexican state of Campeche.
Hurricane Helene spun north through the Florida Panhandle on Thursday night, according to the National Hurricane Center. The best place to be for the storm is nearing Tallahassee.
Final showers of the storm are expected to be over parts of Alabama and Georgia on Friday morning, including Huntsville and Atlanta, before moving further north through Tennessee and the Midwest over the weekend, CBS News reported.
What more has been predicted?
A possible coastal flood is expected to occur in the Florida Panhandle early Thursday morning, with the storm moving inland and weakening in Georgia on Thursday.
Tropical storm-force winds were possibly still to be felt in parts of the Southeast, especially the Carolinas, as the system persists to hug the coastlines as it moves inland.
A dangerous storm surge is expected in many areas of the state, with Panama City and Tampa corresponding to the above regions. The portion of the coast from Ochlockonee River to Chassahowitzka is predicted to rise by between 10 and 15 feet.
