Hurricane Helene makes landfall in Florida's Big Bend as Category 4 storm; well over 1 million without power

Hurricane Helene was a dangerous Category 4 storm when it made landfall over Florida's Big Bend area late Thursday night but was rapidly weakening as it raced inland early Friday, the National Hurricane Center said. Helene was bringing a "life-threatening" storm surge, strong winds and heavy rain, the center said.

Some 1.3 million customers in Florida were without power as of early Friday morning, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us, along with another approximately 475,000 in Georgia. That number was growing rapidly.

So far, there have been at least three weather-related deaths attributed to Helene. Two people were killed in Wheeler County, Georgia, the county coroner, Ted Mercer, told CBS New by phone. No further details were provided.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis confirmed in a late-night news conference that at least one person was killed in the Tampa area when a traffic sign fell on a vehicle. 

DeSantis said about 3,500 National Guardsmen were standing by to respond to emergencies.

Several airports closed because of the storm, and airlines canceled nearly 1,300 flights Thursday, according to FlightAware. Almost 600 U.S. flights were already canceled as of 3 a.m.  

Helene made landfall about 10 miles west of Perry, Florida, at 11:10 p.m. Eastern Time, according to the hurricane center, with maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour.

As of 2 a.m. EDT, its winds had already diminished to 90 mph, making Helene a Category 1 hurricane, the Miami-based center said. It was scurrying north-northeast at 26 mph.

The outlook

"A turn toward the north is expected overnight, taking the center over central and northern Georgia this morning," the hurricane center said. "After that, Helene is expected to turn northwestward and slow down over the Tennessee Valley later today and Saturday.

"Continued weakening is expected, but the fast forward speed will allow strong, damaging winds, especially in gusts, to penetrate well inland across the southeastern United States, including over the higher terrain of the southern Appalachians."

The center said, "Tropical storm conditions are occurring from southern Florida to southeastern Georgia, and these conditions will continue spreading northward across the tropical storm warning areas in the Southeastern U.S. through today. Strong, damaging winds, especially in gusts, will likely penetrate as far inland as the higher terrain of the southern Appalachians."

The center said that, "Over portions of the Southeastern U.S. into the Southern Appalachians, Helene is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 6 to 12 inches, with isolated totals around 20 inches. This rainfall will likely result in catastrophic and potentially life-threatening flash and urban flooding, along with significant river flooding. Numerous significant landslides are expected in steep terrain across the southern Appalachians."

The hurricane center's director, Michael Brennan, earlier described the expected storm surge along Florida's northwestern coastline as "a really unsurvivable scenario" that "can destroy houses, move cars, and that water level is going to rise very quickly ... and could cut off escape routes."

At the White House, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency urged people to take the threat from storm surge seriously. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said most of the 150 people who were killed by Hurricane Ian in 2022 died from drowning.

"Remember that you may only need to go 10 or 15 miles inland to get away from the threat of the storm surge itself because water is the No. 1 reason that we see people lose their lives in these storms, so please don't underestimate what the impacts could possibly be," Criswell said.

CBS News senior weather and climate producer David Parkinson described Helene as a "gargantuan" storm.

Its hurricane-force winds were extending outward up to 30 miles from its center early Friday and tropical-storm-force winds were extending outward up to 310 miles, mainly east of Helene's center, the hurricane center said.

NASA shared video of the hurricane as seen from the International Space Station, showing the size of the storm as it churned through the Gulf of Mexico Thursday afternoon.

In Florida's Big Bend area, from Carrabelle to the Suwannee River, forecasters expected the water to reach 15-20 feet above ground if the storm surge's peak occurred at the same time as high tide. Other areas could see anywhere from 3-15 feet of water, the hurricane center warned. Fifteen to 20 feet of water would be enough to cover a two-story house, Parkinson pointed out.

"The water impacts are probably going to be the most impactful part of the storm, the most deadly part of the storm," Jamie Rhome, a deputy director at the hurricane center, told CBS News.

President Biden and DeSantis declared emergencies in the state earlier in the week, and evacuation orders were issued in several counties. At the University of Tampa, officials were trying to evacuate all residential students by Wednesday afternoon.

States of emergency were also declared in Georgia, North and South Carolina and as far north as Virginia.

Exceptionally warm Gulf water fuels hurricanes

Record-warm water in the Gulf almost certainly  acted like jet fuel in intensifying the storm. Brian McNoldy, senior research associate at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, recently noted that ocean heat content in the Gulf of Mexico is the highest on record. Warm water is a necessary ingredient to strengthen tropical systems.

Sea surface temperatures in the path of Helene were as warm as 89 degrees Fahrenheit — 2 to 4 degrees above normal.

These record water temperatures have been made significantly more likely by human-caused climate change, according to Climate Central. The North Atlantic Ocean as a whole has seen record warm temperatures in 2024, storing 90% of the excess heat from climate change produced by greenhouse gas pollution.

Live radar map of Hurricane Helene

CBS Miami's live radar map shows the current location and rainfall impacts of Hurricane Helene. 

Manuel Bojorquez, Aimee Picchi and Dave Malkoff contributed to this report.

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• Tropical Storm
• Hurricane
• National Hurricane Center