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A hurricane that is barrel toward Florida ’s coast could be one of the most dangerous storms in late history to come to the state , forecasters say .
Hurricane Helene , which has been disembowel strength from record - breaking fond urine in the Gulf of Mexico , is now a Category 4 storm and is expected to score Florida ’s coast Thursday ( Sept. 26 ) nighttime or Friday ( Sept. 27 ) break of the day , according to theNational Hurricane Center(NHC ) .
Hurricane Helene in the Gulf of Mexico in a satellite image captured at 10am ET on Sept. 26, 2024.
As of 7 p.m. EDT , Helene had maximal sustained malarky of 130 miles per hour ( 210 kilometer / h ) and was moving northeast at 23 miles per hour ( 37 km / h ) , with hurricane - force-out winds extending up to 60 miles ( 95 kilometers ) from its shopping centre , according to the NHC .
Once it makes landfall , Helene is expected to bring on a significant storm surge of up to 20 feet ( 6 meters ) above normal sea level . tempest - spate admonition are in effect along portion of Florida ’s Big Bend seacoast , and the surge has been omen to be " unsurvivable " at Apalachee Bay , harmonize toa warningissued by the Tallahassee branch of the National Weather Service ( NWS ) .
" A catastrophic and deadly violent storm surge is likely along helping of the Florida Big Bend coast , where inundation could reach as high as 20 feet above ground storey , along with destructive Wave , " the NWSwrote on X. " There is also a risk of life - threatening violent storm surge along the remainder of the west coast of the Florida Peninsula . "
Residents fill sandbags at Helen Howarth Park in Pinellas Park, Florida, fill sandbags ahead of Hurricane Helene’s arrival.
This is probable an unsurvivable storm surge height .
" When you ’re talking about a storm spate majuscule than 10 foot [ 3 G ] — which we ’re spill the beans about for a big fortune of the Florida Big Bend region — this is a storm surge that is very difficult to survive,“Daniel Brown , the ramification gaffer of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ’s ( NOAA ) Federal Hurricane Specialist Unit , told Live Science . " Ten feet is over the heads of humans and the water is going to be travel , [ there will be ] a portion of wave activeness specially right along the seashore . "
Brown said that the spate , which will owe its size to the shape of the Florida coastline and the size of the hurricane , will probably have the force to damage or demolish building along the coast , think that people should empty immediately .
" People should not be there , " Brown say . " You do n’t have to go hundreds of miles , you just have to get out of the storm surge area . "
Hurricanesgrow from a thin layer of ocean water that evaporates due to malarky . That wet rises to make storm clouds . The warmer the ocean is , the more vigor the organisation gets , pushing the formation process into overdrive and enabling wild storm to rapidly take shape . This is whyhurricane seasonoccurs from June to November and why the most herculean storm in the Atlantic usually occur between August and September , when ocean temperatures peak .
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scientist previously discover that clime change has made extremely dynamic Atlantichurricane season much more likelythan they were in the 1980s . Since March 2023 , average sea surface temperature around the world have hitrecord - shatter highs , giving storm such as Helene an extra shot of strength before they hit earth .
Once Helene bring in landfall , it is expect to move through Florida and then continue inland across Georgia , Tennessee and Alabama — a path that has put millions under hurricane and tropic storm warnings .
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" Water is the number one reason that we see multitude lose their lives in these tempest . So , please do n’t lowball what the shock could peradventure be , " FEMA AdministratorDeanne Criswellsaid at a White Housenews conferenceWednesday ( Sept. 25 ) . " You want to listen to your local official . If they tell you to void , please do so . And if they tell you to shelter in situation , then that ’s what you should do . They ’re go to give you the good data that you’re able to do for your specific situation . Those decisions can save up lives . "
