Officials warned on Thursday that Hurricane Helene could create a “nightmare” scenario with catastrophic storm surges in northwestern Florida. Residents were urged to heed evacuation orders as the massive storm threatened to cause significant damage hundreds of miles inland, impacting much of the southeastern U.S.
Helene was upgraded to a Category 3 hurricane Thursday afternoon, just hours before it was expected to make landfall on Florida’s northwestern coast. Hurricane and flash flood warnings extended inland, reaching into south-central Georgia.
By Thursday afternoon, the storm had already begun to make its presence felt, with tropical storm-force winds reaching Florida and rising waters covering roads near Sarasota’s Siesta Key. Rain was also battering Asheville, North Carolina, where a seven-inch downpour heightened concerns of flooding.
The storm’s potential dangers included tornadoes, damaging winds, and mudslides, prompting the governors of Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia to declare states of emergency. President Joe Biden also issued emergency declarations for several states and is sending the head of FEMA to Florida on Friday to assess the damage.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis noted that the storm’s path had shifted eastward, reducing the likelihood of a direct hit on Tallahassee, a metro area with about 395,000 residents. However, the storm is now set to hit the Big Bend area, a sparsely populated region home to fishing villages and vacation spots.
Commercial fisherman Philip Tooke, whose family has run a business near Apalachee Bay, plans to weather the storm on his boat, as he did during previous hurricanes. “This is what pays my bills,” Tooke said, noting that losing his boats would be devastating.
Many residents, however, were complying with mandatory evacuation orders that spanned low-lying areas from the Panhandle down the Gulf Coast, including cities like Tallahassee, Gainesville, and Tampa.
At a Tallahassee shelter, Sharonda Davis expressed her fear that her mobile home wouldn’t survive the storm. “The size of the hurricane is terrifying because it’s the aftermath we’ll have to deal with,” she said.
Federal authorities were preparing search-and-rescue teams, while the National Weather Service in Tallahassee predicted storm surges up to 20 feet, warning they could be “catastrophic and unsurvivable” in Apalachee Bay. The office urged residents to take evacuation orders seriously, calling the surge scenario “a nightmare.”
Florida’s Forgotten Coast, which has avoided the heavy development seen elsewhere in the state, was at particular risk. This area is cherished for its natural beauty, including salt marshes, tidal pools, barrier islands, and Wakulla Springs, one of the world’s largest freshwater springs.
Residents scrambled to prepare, with some, like Anthony Godwin, filling up gas tanks before heading west to avoid the storm. “Living here means you risk losing everything to a storm,” Godwin said, recalling how Hurricane Michael brought water to the end of his family’s driveway in 2018.
As a precaution, schools and universities along the Gulf Coast were closed, and airports in Tampa, Tallahassee, and Clearwater shut down.
By Thursday afternoon, Helene was about 195 miles southwest of Tampa, moving north-northeast at 16 mph with winds of at least 111 mph. Though the storm was expected to weaken as it moved inland, dangerous winds were still forecast to hit the southern Appalachian Mountains, with landslides possible.
Helene, which formed Tuesday in the Caribbean, had already flooded streets and downed trees in parts of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and knocked out power to over 200,000 homes and businesses in western Cuba.
Hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach said Helene could be one of the largest storms in breadth to hit the Gulf in years, larger than hurricanes Irma, Wilma, and Opal. Hurricane conditions were expected to extend more than 100 miles north of the Georgia-Florida line, with schools closing and evacuees filling state parks across Georgia.
Helene is part of a busy Atlantic hurricane season, with Tropical Storm Isaac strengthening in the Atlantic and former Hurricane John regaining hurricane strength in the Pacific, threatening western Mexico with flooding and mudslides.
