Helene became a hurricane Wednesday after the huge storm rapidly strengthened in the Caribbean Sea and moved north along Mexico’s coast on a path toward the US, leading residents to evacuate, schools to close, and officials to declare emergencies in Florida and Georgia.
The storm’s center was near Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, and it was expected to intensify and grow in size as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico. Heavy rainfall was forecast for the southeastern US with a life-threatening storm surge along the entire west coast of Florida, according to the centre.
The storm is so large that areas roughly 145 km north of the Georgia-Florida line could expect hurricane conditions. States as far inland as Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana could see rainfall.
“You are going to have a major hurricane plowing inland, and storms take a little time to decay once they’re inland,” said Brian McNoldy, an environmental researcher at the University of Miami.
Forecasters warned of possible tornadoes Wednesday night in western Florida and southern Alabama and said the tornado risk would increase Thursday, expanding across Florida and into Georgia and South Carolina.
Helene is expected to become a major hurricane – a Category 3 or higher, with winds above 110 mph (177 kph) – on Thursday, the day it’s set to reach Florida’s Gulf Coast, according to the hurricane centre. The centrer issued hurricane warnings for part of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and Florida’s northwestern coastline, where large storm surges of up to 4.5 metres were expected.
As residents of Florida’s Big Bend – the curving stretch of Gulf coastline in the state’s north – battened down their homes, many saw the ghost of 2018’s Hurricane Michael. That storm rapidly intensified and crashed ashore as a Category 5 that laid waste to Panama City and parts of the rural Panhandle.
“People are taking heed and hightailing it out of there for higher ground,” said Kristin Korinko, a Tallahassee resident who serves as the commodore of the Shell Point Sailboard Club, on the Gulf Coast.
Cuba, Caymans, Keys
In western Cuba, the government preventively shut off power in some communities as waves as high as 5 metres slammed into Cortes Bay.
The Cayman Islands began recovering after heavy rains and big waves lashed them Tuesday. Schools remained closed Wednesday as flood warnings continued and residents pumped water out of their flooded homes.
Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the upper Florida Keys, southern Florida and the state’s northeast coast and were extended northward Wednesday morning to Altamaha Sound, Georgia. A tropical storm watch was in effect for the South Carolina coast north of the South Santee River to Little River Inlet.
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