By Rich McKay, Brendan O’Brien and Andrew Hay
(Reuters) -Officials issued dire warnings on Thursday about a strengthening hurricane Helene, pleading with Floridians in coastal areas along the storm’s path to evacuate ahead of catastrophic winds and a deadly storm surge.
Forecasters said Helene would reach major hurricane status before making landfall on Thursday evening, potentially as a Category 4 storm with sustained wind speeds of up to 156 miles per hour (251 km per hour). Dangerous flooding and forceful winds were expected to extend into Georgia and the Carolinas.
Helene’s surge – the wall of seawater pushed on land by hurricane-force winds – could rise to as much as 20 feet (6.1 meters) in some spots.
“This is not a survivable event for those in coastal or low- lying areas,” said Jared Miller, the sheriff of Wakulla County, where Helene is forecast to make landfall. “Please heed the evacuation orders in place as time is running out to do so.”
Governor Ron DeSantis warned north Florida residents to flee before time runs out.
“You have time to get to a shelter, but you’ve got to do it now,” he said at a morning news briefing. “Every minute that goes by brings us closer to having conditions that are going to be simply too dangerous to navigate.”
Fueled by the Gulf of Mexico’s warm waters, Helene intensified into a Category 2 storm early on Thursday with sustained winds of 100 mph (155 kph) as it sped toward Florida.
“For those in the path, that unfortunately means catastrophic wind impacts,” National Hurricane Center Deputy Director Jamie Rhome said.
The storm’s sprawling size could bring heavy rain, powerful winds and serious flooding hundreds of miles inland. Atlanta, about 260 miles north of Tallahassee, was under tropical storm warnings.
Helene is expected to still be a full-fledged hurricane as it rolls through the Macon, Georgia, area on Friday, forecasters said. It could bring 12 inches of rain or more, potentially devastating the state’s cotton and pecan crops, which are in the middle of harvesting season.
“The current forecast for hurricane Helene suggests this storm will impact every part of our state,” Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said.
More than 40 million people in Florida, Georgia and Alabama were under hurricane and tropical storm warnings, the hurricane center said.
After making landfall across the Florida coast, Helene is expected move more slowly over the Tennessee Valley on Friday and Saturday, the NHC said.
WALL OF WATER
Storm surge was forecast to reach 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to 6.1 meters) in the Big Bend area of Florida’s panhandle where the storm is expected to come ashore, Rhome said.
Numerous evacuations were ordered along Florida’s Gulf Coast, including Sarasota and Charlotte counties.
Pinellas County officials ordered evacuations of long-term healthcare facilities near the coast, including nursing homes, assisted living centers and hospitals. The county sits on a peninsula surrounded by Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.
Not everyone heeded the evacuation orders. In coastal Dunedin, Florida, about 25 miles west of Tampa, state ferry boat operator Ken Wood, 58, planned to ride out the storm with his 16-year-old cat, Andy.
“We’re under orders, but I’m going to stay right here at the house,” Wood told Reuters by telephone. “The storm looks like it’ll be a bit west of us, but who knows? I’m sure it’ll be interesting to say the least.”
John Dailey, the mayor of Tallahassee, Florida’s capital city that is in the direct path of Helene, said the hurricane could be the strongest storm to ever make a direct hit on his city.
Helene could produce “unprecedented damage like nothing we have ever experienced before as a community,” Dailey told reporters on Wednesday.
Tampa’s international airport was closed on Thursday. Energy facilities along the U.S. Gulf Coast scaled back operations and evacuated some production sites.
Reinsurance broker Gallagher Re said preliminary private insurance losses could reach $3 billion to $6 billion, with additional losses to federal insurance programs approaching a potential $1 billion.
TORRENTIAL RAINS
Helene was expected to dump up to 15 inches (38.1 cm) of rain in some isolated spots after making landfall in Florida, causing considerable flash and urban flooding, the hurricane center said.
Rhome said about half of lives lost in hurricanes typically came from flash flooding caused by torrential rain, often among people who drive into flooded roads and are swept away. He urged those in affected areas to use extreme caution.
Rhome added that the expected hurricane-force wind impact area stretched around 180 miles (290 km) north from the Florida panhandle to southern Georgia.
“You need to prepare for prolonged (energy) outages. Those trees are going to come down in strong winds, block roads,” Rhome said.
(Reporting by Rich McKay, Brendan O’Brien and Andrew Hay; Writing by Brad Brooks; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Mark Porter)
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