By Mary Gilbert, Taylor Ward and Dalia Faheid, CNN
(CNN) — Hurricane Helene is now forecast to reach catastrophic Category 4 strength by the time it makes landfall in Florida on Thursday, the National Hurricane Center says, with storm surge potentially climbing to 20 feet along some parts of the coast.
Helene could be the strongest hurricane to hit the United States in over a year – and time is running out for those in its path to prepare.
“Preparations to protect life and property from storm surge and damaging winds along the Florida Big Bend coast should be rushed to completion today,” the center warned.
Helene rapidly intensified into a hurricane Wednesday and will continue strengthening as it crosses over the record-warm water of the Gulf of Mexico. Rapidly intensifying storms like Helene are becoming more frequent in a world warming due to fossil fuel pollution.
Wind speeds in the storm are expected to reach at least 130 mph by Thursday afternoon, but the hurricane center noted “additional strengthening is possible” in the hours before landfall.
The center of the hurricane – where the most dangerous winds are – is expected to make landfall around Apalachicola, Florida, on Thursday evening. But its fearsome eye is only part of the story.
Hurricane Helene will grow into a massive, sprawling monster as it tracks north – one that won’t just slam Florida, but also much of the Southeast.
Thousands of Florida residents have already been forced to evacuate and nearly the entire state is under alerts as the storm threatens to unleash flooding rainfall, damaging winds and life-threatening storm surge.
The hurricane unleashed its fury on parts of Mexico’s Yucátan Peninsula and Cuba Wednesday. Flooding rainfall plunged cars underwater in parts of Mexico’s state of Quintana Roo while powerful ocean waves pounded the coastline. Helene’s strong winds also knocked out power to more than 50,000 people in western Cuba’s province of Pinar del Río.
Areas in Helene’s future track could see worse. The hurricane will be the fourth to make landfall in the US this year and the fifth storm to slam storm-weary Florida since 2022.
“If you’re a godly person, pray, because I don’t really need this,” Port Richey resident Rick Way told CNN affiliate WFTS of the potential flooding Helene could bring. “Neither do any of us.”
But this storm will be different than Hurricane Idalia and other recent storms to strike the state.
Helene is forecast to grow into one of the largest storms in the Gulf of Mexico over the last century, according to hurricane expert Michael Lowry. The hurricane’s wind field could be big enough to stretch from Washington, DC, to Indianapolis. That means more storm surge and more widespread impacts, even with the center of the storm well away from the coast.
“This system will be unlike anything we have experienced to date,” said the sheriff’s office in Taylor County, Florida.
The storm’s sprawl brought rain and tropical storm-force wind gusts to parts of the Florida Keys Wednesday afternoon and will spread north and east across the state from there, reaching the Tampa area by Wednesday night.
Tropical rainfall and strong gusts could spread over a large portion of the Peninsula by Thursday morning. Hurricane-force wind gusts will follow closely behind for areas along the coast, including in the Tampa area by Thursday night.
The storm’s size will also increase the risk of life-threatening storm surge as it nears landfall Thursday evening. Multiple feet of surge flooding are possible for nearly all of Florida’s Gulf Coast, a threat that has forced mandatory evacuations in at least 15 coastal Florida counties.
The Big Bend area faces the most serious storm surge: up to 18 feet of it is possible. Up to 8 feet of surge could inundate Tampa, and threaten high water records in the area, while much of South Florida could get up to 5 feet. Water levels could soar to record heights in Tampa Bay and Clearwater on Thursday night, reaching 1 to 2 feet higher than the records Hurricane Idalia set last year.
And the storm won’t stop at Florida’s coast.
Helene is huge and threatens the entire Southeast
Coastal areas typically bear the brunt of a hurricane, but that might not be the case with Helene.
Tropical alerts span hundreds of miles from South Florida to Tennessee and southern South Carolina because of its size.
The governor of South Carolina declared a state of emergency Wednesday, joining three other states – Florida, Georgia and North Carolina – in declaring statewide emergencies due to the storm.
Hurricanes typically lose strength quickly once they move over land, where they lose the warm water that feeds them, but Helene will remain more intact well inland because it will be both strong at landfall and moving quickly.
As a result, the storm is forecast to still be a hurricane in Georgia Friday morning, nearly 150 miles from where it makes landfall.
That’s bad news for Tallahassee, Florida, just inland from where the storm is forecast to make landfall. City officials warned Helene “could be the worst storm in the history of the City of Tallahassee.”
“If our community remains central in Helene’s path, as forecasted, we will see unprecedented damage like nothing we have ever experienced before as a community,” Tallahassee mayor John E. Dailey said Wednesday.
The storm is currently forecast to pass just to the west of Tallahassee as a 125 mph Category 3 storm. If it does so, it’ll be the strongest storm on record to track within 30 miles of the city since the late 1800s.
The storm’s damaging winds will spread outward hundreds of miles from its center and increase the risk of power outages and flooding, torrential rain well inland starting late Wednesday even before the hurricane’s center comes ashore.
At a news conference Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told residents: “Be prepared. You still have time,” as he urged them to implement their emergency plans and make sure they have gas and non-perishable food and water. But he warned residents to “not evacuate hundreds of miles” away due to the size and speed of the storm.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management has partnered with Uber to provide free rides to shelters for Floridians in counties with a declared state of emergency, he added.
“Remember, you hide from wind, but you run from the water,” the governor said.
By Thursday evening, tropical storm-force winds will spread over more of the Southeast and, along with soaking rainfall, could bring down trees and trigger widespread power outages. Atlanta could have wind gusts of 30 to 40 mph during the day Thursday that strengthen to 50 to 60 mph overnight.
Helene’s winds could be “life-threatening” and possibly cause “extensive impacts across portions of central Georgia,” the National Weather Service in Atlanta warned Wednesday.
“This could be an unprecedented event for north and central Georgia given the expected track and strength of Helene.”
Helene could produce historic flooding in mountainous areas of the Southeast far removed from the coast. Flooding caused by rainfall has become the deadliest threat of tropical systems in the last decade.
The storm will combine with heavy rain ahead of it Wednesday to raise concerns of “widespread impactful flooding” including “potentially life-threatening flash and urban flooding,” the Weather Prediction Center warned Wednesday.
A level 3 of 4 risk of flooding rainfall is in place Thursday for portions of Florida and Georgia – including Atlanta – Alabama and the Carolinas. A rare level 4 of 4 high risk encompasses a smaller area from northeastern Georgia to the far western Carolinas, where more than a foot of rain could fall through Friday.
The potential for “major to catastrophic flooding” is becoming more likely where the heaviest rain falls, the National Weather Service in Greenville, South Carolina, warned Wednesday.
Helene could also produce multiple tornadoes in the Southeast. A level 3 of 5 risk of severe thunderstorms is in place for parts of southern Georgia and South Carolina Thursday, mainly due to the potential for tornadoes.
But the threat isn’t limited to just that area – Helene could produce a tornado anywhere from Florida through much of the Carolinas Thursday.
Flights canceled, closures mount
More than 600 flights have been canceled for Thursday, according to FlightAware. A huge chunk of these were from flights out of Tampa International Airport, which announced it is suspending all commercial and cargo operations on Thursday.
Flights out of Fort Myers, Clearwater, Sarasota and Tallahassee are all heavily impacted as well.
Florida’s major theme parks announced closures for Thursday, including a full closure in Busch Gardens, Tampa Bay, Universal Orlando’s Volcano Bay and Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park.
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