Helene is weakening to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph over Georgia

CRAWFORDVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Helene weakened to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (110 kph) over Georgia early Friday, the National Hurricane Center said.

Helene continues to weaken as it moves further inland over Georgia. The storm was located about 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of Macon and about 100 miles (165 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta and was moving north at 30 mph (48 km/h) as of 5 a.m., the center in Miami reported.

The storm made landfall in northwest Florida as a Category 4 storm, as forecasters warned the massive system could unleash a “nightmarish” storm surge and bring damaging winds and rain to much of the southeastern United States. There were at least three storm-related deaths.

The hurricane center said Helene washed ashore near the mouth of the Aucilla River in the Big Bend area of ​​Florida’s Gulf Coast around 11:10 p.m. Thursday. Maximum sustained winds were estimated at 140 mph (225 km/h). That location was just about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of where Hurricane Idalia came ashore last year with almost the same ferocity, causing widespread damage.

The eye of the hurricane passed near Valdosta, Georgia, as the storm moved quickly north toward Georgia Thursday evening. The National Hurricane Center issued an extreme wind warning for the area, meaning winds in excess of 115 mph (185 km/h) are possible.

At a hotel in the city of 55,000 near the Florida border, dozens of people crowded into the dark lobby after midnight Friday as the wind whistled and howled outside. The power was out, and emergency lights, flashlights and cell phones in the hall provided the only lighting. Water dripped from light fixtures in the lobby dining area and roof debris fell to the ground outside.

Fermin Herrera, 20, his wife and their 2-month-old daughter left their room on the top floor of the hotel, where they sought shelter because they feared trees would fall on their Valdosta home.

“We heard a rumbling noise,” Herrera said as he rocked the sleeping baby in a downstairs hallway. “We didn’t see anything at first. After a while the intensity increased. It looked like a gutter hitting our window. So we decided to leave.”

Helene is the third storm to hit the city in just over a year. Tropical Storm Debby knocked out power for thousands of people in August, while Hurricane Idalia damaged an estimated 1,000 homes in Valdosta and surrounding Lowndes County a year ago.

“I feel like a lot of us now know what to do,” Herrera said. “We’ve seen some storms and they’ve gotten a little thicker.”

Helene triggered hurricane and flash flood warnings that extended well beyond the coast into northern Georgia and western North Carolina. According to the tracking website poweroutage.us, 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. The governors of those states, as well as Alabama and Virginia, all declared states of emergency.

One person died in Florida when a sign fell on their car, and two people were reportedly killed in a possible tornado in south Georgia as the storm approached.

“When Floridians wake up tomorrow morning, we will wake up in a state where there will very likely be additional loss of life and certainly loss of property,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference Thursday night.

Helene moved quickly inland after landfall, with the center of the storm expected to track from south to north Georgia by early Friday morning. The threat of tornadoes would continue overnight and into the morning in northern and central Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and southern North Carolina, forecasters said. There would be a threat of tornadoes in Virginia later Friday.

“Helene continues to produce catastrophic winds that are now moving into south Georgia,” the hurricane center said in an update at 1 a.m. Friday. “Individuals should not leave their accommodations and remain in place during these life-threatening conditions.”

Even before landfall, the force of the storm was felt widely, with sustained tropical-storm-force winds and hurricane-force gusts along Florida’s west coast. Water flooded a road in Siesta Key near Sarasota and covered some intersections in St. Pete Beach. Wood and other debris from a fire in Cedar Key a week ago fell ashore in rising waters.

Beyond Florida, up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain had fallen in the mountains of North Carolina, with up to 14 inches (36 centimeters) more possible before the deluge ends, setting the stage for flooding that forecasters warned could be worse than anything else seen in the last century.

Heavy rains began early Thursday and winds picked up in Valdosta, Georgia, near the state line with Florida. More than a dozen Georgia counties could experience hurricane-force winds of more than 110 miles per hour (177 km/h), according to the weather service.

In south Georgia, two people died Thursday evening when a possible tornado hit a mobile home, Wheeler County Sheriff Randy Rigdon told WMAZ-TV. Wheeler County is approximately 70 miles (113 kilometers) southeast of Macon.

The storm made landfall in the sparsely populated Big Bend area, home to fishing villages and resort towns where Florida’s panhandle and peninsula meet.

“Please write your name, birthday and important information on your arm or leg with a permanent marker so you can be identified and your family notified,” the sheriff’s office in predominantly rural Taylor County warned those refusing to evacuate had decided, in a Facebook post, the dire advice similar to what other officials have given during previous hurricanes.

Still, Philip Tooke, a commercial fisherman who took over the business his father founded near the region’s Apalachee Bay, planned to ride out this storm as he had during Hurricane Michael and the others: on his boat. “If I lose this, I have nothing,” Tooke said.

Michael, a Category 5 storm, almost completely destroyed a city, destroyed thousands of homes and businesses and caused around $25 billion in damage when it hit the Florida Panhandle in 2018.

But many followed mandatory evacuation orders that stretched from the Panhandle south along the Gulf Coast to low-lying areas around Tallahassee, Gainesville, Cedar Key, Lake City, Tampa and Sarasota.

Among them were Cindy Waymon and her husband, who went to a shelter in Tallahassee after securing their home and packing medicine, snacks and drinks. They wanted to stay safe given the magnitude of the storm, she said.

“Due to the complexity of the storm and the uncertainties, this is the first time we have actually come to an emergency shelter,” she said.

Federal authorities sent search and rescue teams as the weather service predicted storm surges of up to 20 feet (6 meters) and warned that they could be particularly “catastrophic and unsurvivable” in Apalachee Bay.

“Please, please, please take all evacuation orders seriously!” The office said the surge scenario was “a nightmare.”

Known as the “Forgotten Coast,” this stretch of Florida has been largely spared from the widespread condominium development and commercialization that dominates so many Florida beach communities. The region is known for its natural wonders, including extensive salt marshes, tide pools and barrier islands.

“Anyone who lives down here is at risk of losing everything in a bad storm,” said Anthony Godwin, who lives about a half-mile (800 meters) from the water in the coastal town of Panacea, as he stopped to refuel before heading west to his sister’s house in Pensacola.

School districts and several universities have canceled classes. Airports in Tampa, Tallahassee and Clearwater were closed Thursday, while there were widespread cancellations elsewhere in Florida and beyond.

While Helene is likely to weaken as it moves inland, damaging winds and heavy rains are expected to spread into the southern Appalachians, where landslides are possible, forecasters said. Tennessee was among the states where flooding was expected.

Helene flooded parts of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Wednesday, inundating roads and toppling trees as it passed the coast and hit the resort town of Cancun. In western Cuba, Helene knocked out power to more than 200,000 households and businesses as she flew past the island.

Hurricane conditions are expected in areas 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of the Georgia-Florida line. The state opened its parks to evacuees and their pets, including horses. Nighttime curfews have been imposed in many cities and counties in South Georgia.

“This is one of the biggest storms we’ve ever had,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said.

For Atlanta, Helene could be the worst impact in a major southern city in 35 years, said Marshall Shepherd, a meteorology professor at the University of Georgia.

Helene is the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year due to record-warm ocean temperatures.

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Hollingsworth reported from Kansas City, Missouri. Associated Press journalists Seth Borenstein in New York, Jeff Amy in Atlanta, Russ Bynum in Valdosta, Georgia, Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Andrea Rodríguez in Havana, Mark Stevenson and María Verza in Mexico City and Claire Rush in Portland , Oregon, contributed to this report.