Hurricane Helene picked up speed and continued to grow in size as it barreled toward Florida’s Big Bend Thursday.
The monster storm’s hurricane winds extended outward for up to 60 miles from the center, while the tropical storm-force winds reached up to 345 miles outward, the National Hurricane Center said.
Helene is expected to reach Florida’s Big Bend between 8 and 11 p.m. Thursday as a major hurricane with winds around 125 mph — bringing deadly, catastrophic storm surge to a 100-mile stretch of the Gulf Coast.
“Certainly nobody in recent memory has seen a storm of this magnitude.” Gov. Ron DeSantis warned.
The storm was about 255 miles southwest of Tampa around 11 a.m. Thursday.
Helene is one of the largest hurricanes ever recorded on the Gulf Coast.
The only three Gulf hurricanes that were bigger than Helene’s predicted size were 2017’s Irma, 2005’s Wilma and 1995’s Opal, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.
Helene developed an eye in the early morning, satellite images showed – which indicated that the storm was continuing to gather strength over the very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Experts warned that a large stretch of the Florida Panhandle could see storm surge of up to 20 feet – which many said would be considered “unsurvivable.”
The deadly stretch covers the Apalachee Bay south of Tallahassee — from Carrabelle to the Suwannee River.
A state of emergency has been declared in 61 of Florida’s 67 counties, and several in the storm’s path are under evacuation orders.
“It will likely be dark by the time this storm passes,” DeSantis cautioned.
“Do not try to do any work in the dark. You don’t know what hazards are out there. The sun is going to come out. You’re going to have time to take stock of this.”
Emergency officials have sent more than 130 generators to gas stations to ensure that people will be able to fill up their cars after the storm, and extra fuel has been shipped to the state, the governor added.
Desperate officials in Pinellas County — where St. Petersburg and Clearwater are located — urged residents who may still be in their homes to evacuate at Helene closed in.
“Way too many people in Zone A [the area directly on the coast] aren’t listening. We’ve been out there this morning. There are still way too many people in the areas,” Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said during a press conference Thursday morning.
“There’s going to reach a point where you’re on your own, because we’re not going to get our people killed because you don’t want to listen to what we’re saying,” Gualtieri insisted.
“It’s just too dangerous.”
The 20-foot storm surge could “change the landscape” of Franklin County, which is located near the impact zone in the northwest of Florida, the county commissioner Ricky Jones told CNN.
Jones said that he normally stays in town for hurricanes, but changed his mind when he saw how powerful Helene was set to be.
“I had intended to ride this out, because we were looking at a (Category) 2, maybe a 3,” Jones said. “As of last night, my family and I have made the arrangements… we will not be staying.”
On Thursday morning, flooding had already created rivers in what were once streets on Treasure Island, a barrier island in Pinellas County, a video shared on X showed.
Airports in Tampa, Tallahassee and Clearwater were closed on Thursday, while more than half of the flights to airports in Sarasota and Fort Myers were canceled, according to FlightAware.
In Atlanta, the world’s busiest airport was also beset with some delays, CNN said, as were Charlotte, North Carolina — and Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, in Florida.
The torrential rainfall from Helene is expected to bring life-threatening flooding to Florida and beyond, including two distinct areas of the rare level 4 of 4 excessive rainfall risk throughout the Southeast.
Extreme wind damage is expected up the Florida coast along I-95 into Tennessee, with widespread power outages likely.
There were also tornado warnings issued throughout Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.
Florida has National Guard 3,500 soldiers ready to respond to the storm, as well as 200 Florida High Patrol troopers at the ready and 550 generators and 40 large pumps from the Florida Departments of Transportation, NBC News reported.
As of Thursday morning, 80 healthcare facilities, hospitals, assisted living and nursing homes had completed various levels of evacuation, Gov. DeSantis said.
Schools and universities along the Gulf Coast have also canceled classes.
Helene already swamped parts of Yucatan Peninsula on Wednesday, flooding streets and toppling trees as it passed offshore and brushed the resort city of Cancun.
The storm caused power outages in Cuba early Thursday.
Helene formed Tuesday in the Caribbean Sea.
Helene is the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year because of record-warm ocean temperatures.
With Post wires