Residents evacuate as Helene barrels toward Florida as a major hurricane

An enormous Hurricane Helene swamped parts of Mexico on Wednesday as it churned on a path forecasters said would take it to Florida as a potentially catastrophic storm with a surge that could swallow entire homes, a chilling warning that sent residents scrambling for higher ground, closed schools, and led to states of emergency throughout the southeast.

Helene's centrewas about 735 kilometressouthwest of Tampa, Fla., the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, and the hurricane was expected to intensify and accelerate as it crosses the Gulf of Mexico toward the Big Bend area of Florida's northwestern coast.

Landfall was expected sometime Thursday evening, and the hurricane centresaid by then it could be a major Category 4 storm with winds above 208 km/h.

Tropical storm conditions were expected in southern Florida Wednesday night, spreading northward and encompassing the rest of Florida as well as Georgia and South Carolina through Thursday night.

Helene became a hurricane Wednesday after the huge storm rapidly strengthened in the Caribbean Sea and moved north along Mexico's coast on a path toward the U.S., prompting residents to evacuate, schools to close and officials to declare emergencies in Florida and Georgia.

The storm was moving north at 19 km/hwith top sustained winds of 140 km/hWednesday evening.

Helene could create a life-threatening storm surge as high as 6.1 metres in parts of the Big Bend region, forecasters said.

Its tropical storm-force winds extended as far as 555 kilometresfrom its centre.The fast-moving storm's wind and rain also could penetrate far inland: The hurricane centreposted hurricane warnings well into Georgia and tropical storm warnings as far north as North Carolina, and it warned that much of the southeast could experience prolonged power outages, toppled trees and dangerous flooding.

As residents of Florida's Big Bend the curving stretch of Gulf coastline in the state's north battened down their homes, many saw the ghost of 2018's Hurricane Michael. That storm rapidly intensified and crashed ashore as a Category 5 that laid waste to Panama City and parts of the rural panhandle.

On Wednesday, the U.S. National Weather Service posted an urgent warning for residents along Apalachee Bay: "There is a danger of catastrophic and unsurvivable storm surge for Apalachee Bay," it said. "Storm surge may begin to arrive as early as late Wednesday night ahead of the winds. This forecast, if realized, is a nightmare surge scenario for Apalachee Bay. Please, please, please take any evacuation orders seriously!"

"People are taking heed and hightailing it out of there for higher ground," said Kristin Korinko, a Tallahassee resident who serves as the commodore of the Shell Point Sailboard Club, on the Gulf Coast about 48 kilometres south of the state capital.

For toughened Floridians who are used to hurricanes, Robbie Berg, a national warning co-ordinator for the hurricane center, advised, "Please do not compare it to other storms you may have experienced over the past year or two."

Helene is forecast to be one of the largest storms in breadth in years to hit the region, said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach. He said since 1988, only three Gulf hurricanes were bigger than Helene's predicted size: 2017's Irma, 2005's Wilma and 1995's Opal.

Areas 160 kilometresnorth of the Georgia-Florida line can expect hurricane conditions. More than half of Georgia's public school districts and several universities cancelled classes.

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And for Atlanta, which is under a tropical storm watch, Helene could be the worst strike on a major Southern inland city in 35 years, said University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd.

"It's going to be a lot like Hugo in Charlotte," Shepherd said of the 1989 storm that struck the North Carolina city, knocking out power to 85 per centof customers as winds gusted above hurricane force.

Landslides were possible in southern Appalachia, with catastrophic flooding predicted in the Carolinas and Georgia, where all three governors declared emergencies. Rainfall is possible as far away as Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana.

Parts of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula were under hurricane warnings as Helene wound between it and the western tip of Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico. The storm formed Tuesday in the Caribbean, and it flooded streets and toppled trees as it passed offshore and brushed the resort city of Cancun.

In Cuba, authorities moved cattle to higher ground and medical brigades went to communities often cut off by storms. The government preventively shut off power in some communities as waves as high as five metersslammed into Cortes Bay. In the Cayman Islands, schools remained closed as residents pumped water out of their flooded homes.

In the U.S., federal authorities positioned generators, food and water, along with search-and-rescue and power restoration teams.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned that Helene could be as strong as a Category 4 hurricane when it makes landfall. The state was providing buses to evacuate people in the Big Bend region and taking them to shelters in Tallahassee.

But near Florida's centre, outside Orlando, Walt Disney World said its only closures Thursday would be the Typhoon Lagoon water park and its miniature golf courses.

Helene is the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year because of record-warm ocean temperatures.