The National Hurricane Centre in Miami said Helene roared ashore just before midnight on Thursday (Friday afternoon AEST) near the mouth of the Aucilla River in the Big Bend area of Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Hurricane Helene made landfall in north-western Florida as a Category 4 storm as forecasters warned that the enormous system could create a “nightmare” storm surge and bring dangerous winds and rain across much of the southeastern US. There were at least three storm-related deaths.
“When Floridians wake up tomorrow morning, we’re going to be waking up to a state where very likely there’s been additional loss of life and certainly there’s going to be loss of property,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said at a news conference.Helene was moving rapidly inland after making landfall, with the centre of the storm set to race from southern to northern Georgia next.
In south Georgia, two people were killed when a possible tornado struck a mobile home, Wheeler County Sheriff Randy Rigdon told WMAZ-TV. Many, though, were heeding the mandatory evacuation orders that stretched from the Panhandle south along the Gulf Coast in low-lying areas around Tallahassee, Gainesville, Cedar Key, Lake City, Tampa and Sarasota.
“Please, please, please take any evacuation orders seriously!” the office said, describing the surge scenario as “a nightmare”.
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