A powerful hurricane was headed toward Florida on Thursday, with officials warning of “unsafe” conditions and a potentially devastating storm surge large enough to swallow a two-story home.
Thousands of people were without power and roads were already flooded before one of the biggest hurricanes was expected to hit the Gulf of Mexico in decades.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said fast-moving Helene strengthened into an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 hurricane before landfall was expected around 11 pm (0300 GMT) on Thursday.
It was packing winds of 130 miles (215 kilometers) per hour as it moved over the warm waters of the Gulf toward the Big Bend area south of Tallahassee, Florida’s capital.
“Everyone along the Florida Big Bend coast is at risk for a potentially devastating hurricane,” the NHC said on social media.
The Tampa and Tallahassee airports are closed, with parts of St. Petersburg, downtown Tampa, Sarasota, Treasure Island and other cities on Florida’s west coast already flooded.
About 125,000 homes and businesses were without power.
“We are expecting to see storm surge flooding 15 to 20 feet above ground level,” said NHC Director Mike Brennan. “It’s all the way to the top of the second-story building. Again, a truly unimaginable landscape is about to unfold in this part of the Florida coastline.”
“The accompanying waves can destroy homes, shake cars and the water levels are going to rise very quickly,” Brennan said.
– Free yourself or sit quietly? ,
In Alligator Point, a coastal town on a picturesque peninsula in the storm’s path, David Wesolowski wasn’t taking any chances.
“I just came to close some things before the wind gets too strong,” the 37-year-old real estate agent told AFP as he roofed his house on stilts.
“If it keeps going on like this, it’s going to look different later on, that’s for sure,” he said before moving his family to higher ground in Tallahassee.
Meanwhile, Patrick Rickert refused to move from his small wooden home in Crawfordville, a town of 5,000 people a few miles away.
Like Alligator Point, most residents have bolted and it looks like a ghost town, but Rickert, his wife and five grandchildren “were not going anywhere,” the 58-year-old insisted.
“I’ll stay calm” and ride out the storm, as he did in 2018 when deadly Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 megastorm, tore through the Florida Panhandle.
The NHC warned of up to 20 inches (51 cm) of rain in some locations and potentially life-threatening flooding, as well as multiple landslides in the southern Appalachians.
The National Weather Service said the region could be badly hit, with flooding not seen in more than a century.
“This will be one of the most significant weather events to occur in western parts of the region in the modern era,” she warned.
Tornado warnings were issued for northern Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.
Georgia’s sprawling capital, Atlanta, was projected to experience tropical storm-force winds and flash flooding, with up to 12 inches of rain.
And Tennessee – more than 300 miles from the Gulf Coast – is bracing for statewide tropical storm conditions.
More than 55 million Americans were under some type of weather warning or warning from Hurricane Helene.
– ‘Life-threatening effects’ –
“This is going to be a multi-state event, with the potential to have significant impacts from Florida to Tennessee,” Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Dean Criswell told reporters.
Vice President Kamala Harris said the White House is keeping an eye.
“The President and I, of course, are monitoring the case and the situation closely, and we urge everyone watching right now to take this storm very seriously,” he told reporters.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis mobilized the National Guard and ordered thousands of personnel to be ready for search and rescue operations.
He warned that the powerful storm would be dangerous and urged everyone to take precautions.
“We can’t control how strong this storm is going to get. We can’t control the track of the storm, but what you can control is what you do to give yourself the best chance of dealing with it.” “Maybe in a way it will be safe.”
Helene could become the most powerful hurricane to hit the United States in more than a year – and almost certainly the largest.
Hurricane expert Michael Lowry called Helene “extreme”, noting that its tropical storm-force winds at speeds of 39 mph or greater extended nearly 500 miles.
Researchers say climate change likely plays a role in hurricanes becoming increasingly intense, as warmer oceans have more energy to feed on.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
