Storm Helene on Course to Strike Florida as Major Hurricane

AFP/APP

Miami: The state of Florida is bracing for the arrival of Storm Helene, which is expected to make landfall later this week as a powerful Category 3 hurricane.

Helene, currently swirling over the Caribbean with sustained winds of 50 miles (85 kilometers) per hour, is projected to intensify significantly as it moves through the Gulf of Mexico. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the storm is forecast to hit the Florida coast on Thursday with winds exceeding 110 miles per hour.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has expanded the state of emergency to 61 of the state’s 67 counties and activated the National Guard in preparation for the storm. As of Tuesday evening, partial evacuation orders were issued for ten counties along Florida’s Gulf Coast.

“There is a significant threat of storm surge, coastal flooding and erosion, heavy rainfall, flash flooding, and damaging winds,” Governor DeSantis said in an executive order issued on Monday.

In addition to the warnings in Florida, the NHC has also issued a hurricane warning for parts of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and a hurricane watch for Cuba’s Pinar del Rio province.

If the NHC’s predictions hold, Helene would become the strongest hurricane to strike the United States in over a year. The last major storm, Hurricane Idalia, a Category 3 hurricane, hit northwestern Florida in August 2023.
Helene is expected to make landfall in the same region as both Idalia and Hurricane Debby, which struck Florida last month as a Category 1 storm.

While the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, has been quieter than initially anticipated, researchers believe climate change may be contributing to the rapid intensification of storms due to warmer ocean temperatures, which provide more energy for hurricanes to strengthen.