See the Path of Hurricane Helene

By Simmone Shah, Rebecca Schneid and Solcyré Burga
Updated: September 25, 2024 12:21 PM EDT | Originally published: September 24, 2024 12:05 PM EDT

Hurricane Helene, which evolved from Tropical Cyclone nine, is expected to pummel past Mexico and move towards the Florida coast Wednesday bringing life-threatening storm surge and winds. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) officially gave the storm its hurricane designation, as a category 1, Wednesday morning.

As of 11 a.m. EST Wednesday, the storm was about 500 miles from Tampa, Florida with maximum sustained winds of 80 m.p.h. 

The storm system is expected to make landfall in Florida late Thursday. Predictions expect the system to be a Category 3 storm.The NHC warns that Helene’s large size means that inundation greater than 10 ft is possible along the Florida Big Bend Coast. “Because of Helene’s expected fast forward speed, damaging and life-threatening wind gusts, are expected to penetrate well inland over portions of the southeastern United States, including in the higher terrain of the southern Appalachians,” the center tweeted.

New tropical storm warnings have been issued for Florida and South Carolina, and a hurricane warning is in place for Florida's west coast, from the Anclote River to Mexico Beach, as well as Cabo Catoche to Tulum, Mexico. Heavy rainfall is expected in Florida on Wednesday, as well as “life-threatening” storm surges, particularly in coastal areas.

Hurricane and tropical storm conditions are now expected over portions of the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued a state of emergency for 41 counties on Monday, and increased the executive order to include 61 of the state’s 67 counties on Tuesday morning.

DeSantis urged residents to take the time to adequately prepare before the storm makes landfall—by taking precautions such as filling gas tanks and stocking up on water and non-perishable foods in case of a power outage. “We are going to see significant impact no matter what happens,” said DeSantis.

According to a press release by DeSantis, there are multiple preparedness efforts being issued by the state, including hosting daily calls with the counties in a state of emergency, readying high-water vehicles to be deployed if needed in these counties, and preparing the state guard to be deployed if needed.