Hurricane Helene has been upgraded to a Category 3 storm and is expected to reach Category 4 status before making landfall in Florida late Thursday evening, Sept. 26.
Tropical storm Helene intensified Thursday and is anticipated to bring "life-threatening storm surge, damaging winds, and flooding rains" to a large part of Florida and the southeastern United States, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Hurricane Helene seen from above by cameras on the International Space Station on Sept. 26, 2024. (Image credit: NASA+)
AccuWeather reports that the storm's sustained winds have exceeded 120 miles per hour.
The hurricane is projected to make landfall between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. Thursday near St. Marks, Fla., in the Panhandle region of the state's northwestern coast.
Hurricane Helene NOAA
“Devastating hurricane-force winds are expected across portions of northern Florida and southern Georgia where the core of Helene moves inland,” the NHC said in its alert. “Preparations to protect life and property should be completed.”
According to the advisory, Helene is forecasted to possibly contribute to life-threatening flash flooding and urban flooding across parts of northwestern and northern Florida, the Southeast, the southern Appalachians and the upper Tennessee Valley starting on Sept. 26 through Friday, Sept. 27.
Ryan Truchelut, a hurricane forecaster for the USA Today Network-Florida, told the newspaper.
"Helene stands toe-to-toe with any of the threats that Florida has faced over the past 10 years or indeed really over hurricane history,"
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a state of emergency for 41 counties on Monday, Sept. 24.
“There have been local communities and counties that have issued evacuation orders in a number of Florida counties, you still have time to be able to do that and so I would heed those warnings,” the governor said, per NBC affiliate WFLA. “You can hide from the wind, and there will be significant wind on this storm, but you have to run from the water.”
President Joe Biden earlier declared a state of emergency for Florida on Sept. 24, ordering “Federal assistance to supplement State, tribal, and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Tropical Storm Helene beginning on September 23, 2024, and continuing.”
Due to the storm's proximity, SpaceX has been forced to delay the scheduled launch of a new crew to the International Space Station. It's rescheduled the launch of its Crew-9 astronauts for NASA to no earlier than Saturday (Sept. 28), moving it back by two days from Sept. 26.
NASA is streaming live views of Hurricane Helene today (as it approaches the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Cameras on the International Space Station have also been streaming live views of Hurricane Helene as ISS passed over the storm and the southeastern United States. You can view that on NASA's YouTube feed or via the agency's NASA+ streaming service.
Please keep all those in the path of the hurricane in your thoughts and prayers as well as those affected by it.
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