Hurricane likely to intensify before landfall

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Hurricane Helene strengthened to a Category 2 storm Thursday and is forecast to gain strength before making landfall on the Florida Panhandle overnight.

Helene gained strength as it swept across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It could pack winds of up to 130 mph (212 kph) and push 20 feet (6 meters) of water into anxious coastal communities upon landfall. Nearly 80 million people in Florida and throughout the Southeast were under hurricane or tropical storm warnings.

On Florida's Big Bend coast, Wakulla County Sheriff Jared Miller warned residents Thursday that they had little time left to evacuate. Current estimates suggest Wakulla, which is in Florida's Big Bend area, will be hit by a “catastrophic” storm surge of more than 20 feet, he said in a Facebook post.

“People in coastal and lowland areas will not be able to survive this event,” Miller said. “There has not been a storm of this magnitude in Wakulla since records began.”

Developments:

∎ The storm's center was about 320 miles southwest of Tampa early Thursday. Maximum sustained winds were 100 mph, and Helene was moving north-northeast at 12 mph.

∎ President Joe Biden, along with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, have declared a state of emergency in anticipation of the storm's impact. Biden deployed Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) teams and resources to Florida and Alabama to support local first responders.

Helene is expected to bring 6 to 12 inches of rain over a broad swath of the southeast in the coming days, with isolated rainfall as high as 18 inches. Jack Beven, a senior hurricane expert at the National Hurricane Center, said the rains would cause “potentially life-threatening” flooding.

“Helene is strengthening and is expected to bring catastrophic winds and storm surge to the northeast Gulf Coast,” he warned. “Preparations to protect life and property should be completed quickly.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis urged Florida residents to prepare. DeSantis appeared at the state's emergency operations center and warned residents that winds of 120 to 125 mph were expected in the capital city. Although Leon County is not part of a mandatory evacuation zone, homeowners should know what year their home was built.

“Some of these older homes were built really well … but there are trees everywhere. So it's one thing to withstand the wind hitting the house. It's a whole different thing when you're trying to withstand a huge tree falling on your house,” DeSantis warned.

According to Florida's building code, a home built after 2004 is likely to withstand winds of 115 mph. However, if a home was built before 2004, Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie advises people to “make decisions based on solid information.”

Known for its 24-hour service, Waffle House remains 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.

“It's a wait-and-see attitude right now,” Njeri Boss, vice president of food safety and public affairs, told the Tallahassee Democrat, part of the USA TODAY Network, after a virtual conference. “We'll be watching the rest of the day, all night and the foreseeable future.”

The Waffle House Index was coined by Craig Fugate, nicknamed the “Master of Disasters” as Florida's emergency management director. It not only serves as a beacon for first responders to respond to a crisis, but also provides communities with an informal but reliable way to assess the severity of a disaster.

Red, the strictest level of the three-tier code of conduct, means the restaurant is deemed unsafe, roads around the restaurant are closed and water and electricity are turned off. Boss adds that due to the uncertainty of Helene's fate, no decision has yet been made to close any establishments in the area.

According to Boss, this could change by Thursday and the decision to close ultimately lies with those responsible on site.

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

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