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    • Hurricane expected to grow before landfall
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    Hurricane expected to grow before landfall

    Vaseline Posted on

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    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Hurricane Helene strengthened to a Category 2 storm on Thursday and is expected to strengthen further before making landfall in the Florida Panhandle overnight.

    Helene gathered strength as it roared across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, packing winds of up to 132 mph and pushing 20 feet of water into anxious coastal communities upon landfall. Nearly 80 million people in Florida and the Southeast were under hurricane or tropical storm warnings.

    On Florida’s Big Bend coast, Wakulla County Sheriff Jared Miller warned residents Thursday that time was running out to flee. Current estimates put Wakulla, in Florida’s Big Bend area, at risk of a “catastrophic” storm surge of more than 20 feet, he said in a Facebook post.

    “This is not going to be a survivable event for those in coastal or low-lying areas,” Miller said. “There has never been a storm of this magnitude that has hit Wakulla in recorded history.”

    Developments:

    ∎ The storm was centered about 320 km (200 mi) southwest of Tampa on Thursday morning. Maximum sustained winds were 100 mph, and Helene was moving north-northeast at 12 mph.

    ∎ President Joe Biden, along with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, have declared a state of emergency in preparation for the storm’s impact. Biden has deployed teams and resources from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Florida and Alabama to assist local responders.

    Helene is expected to produce total rainfall of 6 to 12 inches across a broad swath of the Southeast over the next few days. Isolated rainfall amounts will reach 18 inches. Jack Beven, a senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center, said the rainfall will result in “potentially life-threatening” flooding.

    “Helene is strengthening and is expected to bring catastrophic winds and storm surges to the northeastern Gulf Coast,” he warned. “Preparations to protect lives and property must be completed quickly.”

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis urged Floridians to prepare. DeSantis, who appeared at the state’s Emergency Operations Center, warned residents that the capital could see winds of 120 to 125 mph in the city. Although Leon County is not under a mandatory evacuation zone, homeowners should know what year their home was built.

    “Some of these older homes are really well built … but there are trees everywhere. So it’s one thing to be able to withstand the wind hitting the house. It’s another thing to have a huge tree fall on your house,” DeSantis warned.

    If a home was built after 2004, it will likely be able to withstand winds of 115 mph, according to Florida building codes. But if a home was built before 2004, Kevin Guthrie, director of Florida Emergency Management, urged people to “make decisions based on solid information.”

    Known for its 24/7 service, Waffle House continues to be a beacon of hope during severe storms. And the good news for Tallahassee, Florida: the restaurant chain is keeping its doors open in Tallahassee for now, even as Hurricane Helene approaches.

    “Right now, it’s a wait-and-see approach,” Njeri Boss, vice president of food safety and public relations, told the Tallahassee Democrat, part of the USA TODAY Network, after a virtual conference. “We’ll be monitoring the rest of the day, through the night and into the foreseeable future.”

    The Waffle House Index is a safety measure created by Craig Fugate, who is known as Florida’s “Master of Disasters” because of his role as director of emergency management. The index not only provides a signal to emergency responders about how to respond to a disaster, but also an informal but reliable way for communities to gauge the severity of a disaster.

    Red, the strictest level in the three-tier code, means the restaurant is considered unsafe, surrounding roads are blocked and water and electricity, for example, are out. Boss adds that because of the uncertainty surrounding Helene’s path, no decision has been made to close any locations in the area.

    According to Boss, that could change on Thursday and the decision to close ultimately rests with local managers.

    Contributions: Kyla A. Sanford, Democrat from Tallahassee; Reuters

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