Hurricane Helene Makes Landfall In Florida; Heads To Georgia (image @NHC_Atlantic)

Hurricane Helene made its landfall in Florida as a dangerous Category 4 storm, bringing chaos to a wide swathe of the Gulf Coast. The place was hit with threatening high winds, storm surges and drenching rainfall. Huge storms formed rapidly this week, and strengthened as it careened across the warm waters of the Gulf. Reports suggest that the hurricane has weakened to a Category 1 storm, but it continues to produce hurricane-force winds.

Helene is located over 70kmh east-southeast of Florida’s Tallahassee, with maximum sustained winds of 225 kph, said the Miami-based UA National Hurricane Centre.

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Helene’s storm surge, the wall of seawater pushed on land by hurricane-force winds, could rise to as much as 20ft (6.1 metres) in some spots.

“This is not a survivable event for those in coastal or low-lying areas… Please heed the evacuation orders in place as time is running out to do so,” said Jared Miller, the sheriff of Wakulla county on the Florida coast.

Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia and Alabama declared states of emergency.

Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, urged north Florida residents to flee before time runs out, warning of flooding, road closures and power outages. Even though the storm was expected to weaken once it made landfall, it is moving fast and could continue to spread.

“You’re going to have hurricane force winds for probably 50 miles outside the eye of the storm, and then you’re going to continue to see surge, particularly in that Big Bend area,” said DeSantis, during a news briefing, which was held at the state’s emergency operation centre in Tallahassee.

Climate scientists earlier warned that the global heating is increasing the numbers and strengths of powerful hurricanes. While individual storms are not formed by climate change, the increasing number and power of hurricanes is powered by the planet’s warning oceans and seas.

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Reportedly, much of the storm’s power came from the strength it garnered over the Gulf of Mexico, which showed high and unprecedented temperatures recently.

The hurricane is now expected to travel up the south-eastern coast once it makes a landfall. moving from Florida up to North Carolina. Reportedly, at least 50 million people are under hurricane and tropical storm warnings.