'Unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene races towards Florida
The Peninsula
Tallahassee, United States: Parts of Florida face unsurvivable conditions when Hurricane Helene hits later Thursday, the US weather service said, wa...
Tallahassee, United States: Parts of Florida face "unsurvivable" conditions when Hurricane Helene hits later Thursday, the US weather service said, warning that howling wind will drive destructive waves and storm surge as high as 20 feet (six meters) onto the low-lying coast.
Residents fled ahead of the incoming hurricane amid mass evacuation orders.
The fast-moving storm was a Category 2 mid-morning Thursday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami said, packing wind speeds of 105 miles (169 kilometers) an hour as it churns over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
The NHC said Helene -- which it described as one of the largest Gulf hurricanes in recent decades -- is expected to make landfall at or near Florida's Big Bend coast in the evening and could develop into a Category 3 or 4.
Tampa and Tallahassee airports have already closed, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis urged residents to rush preparations ahead of the "nasty" storm. It's a "very dangerous hurricane," NHC director Mike Brennan said.
