Florida braces for major hurricane as Helene rapidly gains strength | Weather News

Hurricane Helene has rapidly strengthened in the Caribbean as it moves north between the coasts of Mexico and Cuba toward the United States, prompting authorities to declare a state of emergency in Florida.

Helene is expected to move over deep, warm waters and will continue to intensify on Wednesday as it moves north over the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

Heavy rains and a “life-threatening storm surge” along the entire west coast of Florida were forecast for the southeastern United States starting Wednesday, the NHC said.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Helene was located about 135 kilometers (85 miles) of Cozumel, Mexico, and about 810 kilometers (503 miles) south-southwest of Tampa on Florida’s west coast as it moved northwest at 17 km/h (10 mph), with maximum sustained winds of 130 km/h (80 mph).

In the Cayman Islands, strong winds caused power outages, heavy rain and waves up to three metres high.

The storm is also causing great concern in Cuba. Its outer fringes are expected to reach the capital Havana, which is already struggling with chronic power outages.

Mexico is still reeling from the effects of earlier Hurricane John, which slammed into the Pacific coast on Monday and Tuesday, killing two people, ripping tin roofs off houses, triggering mudslides and downing trees, officials said.

John weakened to a low pressure area after reaching land, but then reformed into a tropical storm on Wednesday and is expected to make landfall again on Thursday in the Mexican state of Guerrero, about 155 kilometers north of Acapulco.

Forecast: Hurricane of “severe proportions”

According to the official weather forecast, Helene is expected to become a major Category 3 or higher hurricane on Thursday. The storm will reach Apalachee Bay on Florida’s Gulf Coast. The NHC has issued hurricane warnings for parts of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and the northwestern coast of Florida, where major storm surges of up to 4.5 meters (15 feet) are expected.

“It’s going to be a very large system with impacts across all of Florida,” said Larry Kelly, hurricane specialist at the NHC.

25.9., 5 a.m. EDT: There is a risk of life-threatening storm surge from the tropical storm #Helene along the entire west coast of the Florida Peninsula and the Florida Big Bend, where a storm surge warning is in effect. Residents in these areas should follow the advice of local authorities. pic.twitter.com/EorwuqPfar

— NHC Storm Surge (@NHC_Surge) 25 September 2024

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for most counties in the state. Helene was expected to pass near the state capital of Tallahassee, where local authorities feared major tree damage.

The White House said federal authorities had provided generators, food and water, and deployed search and rescue and power restoration teams.

The storm is expected to be unusually large and fast-moving, meaning storm surge, wind and rain will likely extend several hundred miles from the storm’s center, the NHC added. Inland states such as Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana could also see rainfall.

Some residents of the Gulf Coast in the Florida Panhandle are already evacuating to safer areas inland as memories of recent storm surges are still fresh.

In 2018, Hurricane Michael struck Mexico Beach about 100 miles west of where Helene was expected to make landfall. Michael quickly intensified into a devastating Category 5 hurricane and caught the population by surprise, causing an estimated $25.5 billion in damage and leaving 59 people dead.

In 2023, Hurricane Idalia, another Category 3 storm, left up to 500,000 homes without power after it struck Florida’s northwest coast and also caused severe flooding damage from the storm surge. Idalia was the strongest hurricane to hit Florida’s Big Bend region since 1950.

Helene is the eighth named storm of the current Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, and the fourth to make landfall in the United States. Hurricane Francine hit the Gulf Coast of Louisiana nearly two weeks ago as a Category 2 storm.

Since 2000, only three years other than 2024 have seen four or more storms make landfall on the U.S. mainland.

This year’s hurricane season comes with an insurance crisis for homeowners in some U.S. states, which are suffering from rising fees and a reluctance among private insurers to offer coverage in coastal areas.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year as ocean temperatures reach record highs. It forecast 17 to 25 named storms, including four to seven major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher.

However, the season has started slowly and meteorologists are currently looking for factors that may have prevented the formation of severe storms as they passed through the Atlantic’s “hurricane corridor”.