Hurricane Helene made landfall on Thursday night in Florida’s Big Bend region, impacting the Gulf Coast near the mouth of the Aucilla River around 11:10 p.m. EST, approximately 10 miles west-southwest of Perry. The National Hurricane Center has forecasted dangerous storm surges reaching up to 20 feet (6 meters), with particularly catastrophic conditions expected in Florida’s Apalachee Bay.
Tragically, the storm has already claimed lives: one person in Tampa was killed when a falling road sign struck a vehicle, and two fatalities were reported in Georgia due to severe winds damaging a mobile home. Helene, which formed earlier in the week in the Caribbean, intensified into a Category 4 storm as it moved over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
In addition to the loss of life, power outages have affected over one million homes and businesses in Florida, with around 50,000 outages reported in Georgia. Emergency officials are urging residents to heed safety warnings as the storm continues to wreak havoc across the region.