According to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Helene has intensified, with sustained winds reaching 90 mph, making it a strong Category 1 hurricane. The storm is currently positioned approximately 350 miles southwest of Tampa, Florida, and is moving in a north-northeasterly direction at a speed of 12 mph.
Forecasters predict that Helene will continue to strengthen over the next 24 hours and is anticipated to make landfall along the Big Bend of Florida later today or early Friday morning as a major hurricane, potentially reaching Category 3 or higher.
While weakening is expected after landfall, the fast forward speed of Helene is likely to result in strong and damaging winds, particularly in gusts, penetrating well inland across the southeastern United States, including the higher terrain of the southern Appalachians.
The National Hurricane Center has issued warnings of catastrophic and deadly storm surge along portions of the Florida Big Bend coast, where inundation levels could rise as high as 20 feet above ground level. Additionally, life-threatening storm surge conditions are possible along the rest of the west coast of the Florida Peninsula.
Residents in the affected areas are advised to prepare for significant flash flooding and urban flooding, with the potential for numerous significant landslides across portions of the southern Appalachians through Friday. Considerable to locally catastrophic flash and urban flooding is also expected in northwestern and northern Florida, as well as the Southeast region through Friday.
