By The Independent (World News) | Created at 2024-09-27 03:35:20 | Updated at 2024-09-30 07:23:45
3 days ago
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Category 4 Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region on Thursday night, bringing with it deadly winds of 140mph and a “catastrophic” storm surge.
Helene made landfall at 11.10pm ET at Perry, Florida, just east of the mouth of the Aucilla River, the National Hurricane Center said in an update.
“This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation,” the National Hurricane Center stated an hour before the storm roared ashore. “Persons should not leave their shelters and remain in place through the passage of these life-threatening conditions.”
The center says that storm surge in areas near Helene’s landfall could be as high as 20ft and be “unsurvivable” in some areas.
More than 800,000 customers in Florida and Georgia were without power as Helene prepared to make landfall, according to PowerOutage.US.
Some counties in the Big Bend area halted emergency service operations as the storm bore down.
Helene will remain a hurricane as it moves into southern Georgia overnight before weakening and ending up in Tennessee on Friday afternoon as a tropical storm.
A state of emergency was declared in 61 of Florida’s 67 counties with several placed under evacuation orders.
