Hurricane Helene made landfall in northwestern Florida as a Category 4 storm, battering the coast with torrential rain and punishing gusts as residents across the southeastern US braced for what forecasters warned would be a ‘nightmare storm’.
Helene roared ashore around 11:10pm CDT last night with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph.
It hit near the mouth of the Aucilla River in the Big Bend area of Florida’s Gulf Coast – just 20 miles northwest of where Hurricane Idalia came ashore last year at nearly the same ferocity and caused widespread damage.
Helene prompted hurricane and flash flood warnings extending far beyond the coast up into northern Georgia and western North Carolina.
More than 1.2 million homes and businesses were without power in Florida, more than 190,000 in Georgia and more than 30,000 in the Carolinas, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us.
The governors of those states and Alabama and Virginia all declared emergencies.
At least three people have been killed so far – one person died in Florida when a sign fell on their car and two people were reported killed in a possible tornado in south Georgia as the storm approached.
‘When Floridians wake up tomorrow morning, we’re going to be waking up to a state where very likely there’s been additional loss of life and certainly there’s going to be loss of property,’ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference Thursday night.
Helene was early Friday downgraded to a Category 2 storm but has already left a trail of destruction in its wake.
Hurricane Helene Chaos: Weatherman Loses It Live On Air. pic.twitter.com/tXiUVlno2P
— VINCENT OSHANA (@VincentOshana) September 27, 2024
https://twitter.com/MattWallace888/status/1839534649132917041
WILD: Man in Tampa, FL is broadcasting live from his living room, showing the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. pic.twitter.com/0u57hnKc7U
— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) September 27, 2024
h/t Emeraldlight