Helene reaches hurricane strength in Gulf of Mexico and threatens Florida

The National Hurricane Center reported that the powerful storm Helene became a hurricane Wednesday morning. It was packing winds of up to 130 kph (80 mph) as it churned off the coast of Yucatan Peninsula in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

Forecasters said that Helene would continue to intensify throughout Thursday and bring a life-threatening storm to Florida's coast.

The National Weather Service warned that more than 40 millions people in Florida and Georgia, as well as Alabama, were under tropical storm and hurricane warnings on Wednesday.

Several evacuations have been ordered along Florida's Gulf coast. This includes Sarasota, Charlotte, and Hillsborough counties.

Melissa Wolcott Martino, a retired magazine-editor in St. Petersburg was busy packing Wednesday as she prepared to evacuate her coastal one-story home.

She had just finished repairing damage caused by Hurricane Idalia last year, which devastated the area with strong winds and floodwaters.

The 81-year old told me by phone, "We had Idalia the year before." We just finished renovations today and are now packing for another storm. "This is not great."

Pinellas County officials have ordered the evacuation of all long-term care facilities near the coast, including hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living centers. The county is located on a peninsula that's surrounded by Tampa Bay, the Gulf of Mexico and other waterways.

"Now you still have plenty of time to prepare. Review your hurricane plan and ensure that you're executing your hurricane preparation plan," said Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke at a press conference on Tuesday.

Forecasters predicted that Helene would become a Category 3, with winds exceeding 111 mph (178 kph), before making landfall in Florida's Big Bend area south of Tallahassee, on Thursday night.

In some places, the storm was predicted to cause a 15-foot storm surge (4.6 m). The National Hurricane Center also predicted that the storm could dump as much as 15 inches of rain (38.1 cm) in isolated areas in the area, causing flash flooding and urban flooding.

Jaime Rhome, NHC's Deputy Director, said in a press conference on Tuesday that "it is going to a big storm." It's going push a large swath storm surge across western portions of Florida peninsula. This area is very, very vulnerable to storm surge."

Florida emergency officials told residents in the path to expect to lose power for up to one week.

(source: Reuters)