Agencies
Tampa
The state of Florida has issued a number of mandatory evacuation orders as Hurricane Helene strengthened over the Gulf of Mexico.
As of Thursday afternoon, the storm had grown into a category 3 hurricane and is expected to make landfall on Florida’s Big Bend later in the evening. Officials have urged people to heed evacuation orders, warning that the storm will bring "life-threatening” weather to the region with destructive winds and significant storm surge.
It is expected to make landfall as a category 4 hurricane south of Tallahassee, a city that has not seen a storm of this magnitude in recent memory.
Hurricane Helene has been described as "catastrophic” and "unsurvivable” by officials, who warned that it will bring with it a storm surge of up to 20 ft above ground level in some areas of the Big Bend.
"This forecast, if realised, is a nightmare surge scenario for Apalachee Bay,” the National Weather Service office in Tallahassee warned in a bulletin.
Michael Brennan, the director of the National Hurricane Centre (NHC), said on Thursday that residents under evacuation orders still have time to get out, but added that "conditions are going to deteriorate quickly.” Power outages, tree damage and powerful winds that could tear roofs off of structures are expected, Brennan said, as well as significant rainfall of up to 18 inches that could bring flash flooding in some areas.
The storm has been described as "very large” by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who warned on Thursday that it will bring with it tropical storm conditions to much of his state. Around 14 tornado warnings were issued overnight on Wednesday, and DeSantis warned that more were likely in the coming day.
He added that Tallahassee, Florida’s capital city of 200,000 residents, could be significantly affected if the hurricane makes landfall directly on the city.
"This area has not had a major hurricane hit in quite some time, and nobody in recent memory has seen a storm of this magnitude hit,” DeSantis said.
As of 11:00 EST (16:00 GMT), Hurricane Helene was about 405km from Tampa, Florida, according to the NHC, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (165 km/h).
DeSantis urged residents in the impacted regions to leave as soon as possible, as the hurricane is forecast to travel quickly towards the state.
"Every minute that goes by brings us conditions that are simply going to be too dangerous to navigate,” he said.
Michael Bobbit, a clam farmer in the island of Cedar Key on Florida’s Big Bend, said that some people in his community have decided to stay behind despite the warnings.