Helene made landfall on Florida’s northwest coast late Thursday after strengthening into a Category 4 storm hours earlier.
Helene prompted hurricane and flash flood warnings extending far beyond the coast up into northern Georgia and western North Carolina. made landfall in northwestern Florida as a Category 4 storm as forecasters warned that the enormous system could create a “nightmare” storm surge and bring dangerous winds and rain across much of the southeastern U.S. There were at least three storm-related deaths.around 11:10 p.m.
Even before landfall, the storm's wrath was felt widely, with sustained tropical storm-force winds and hurricane-force gusts along Florida's west coast. Water lapped over a road in Siesta Key near Sarasota and covered some intersections in St. Pete Beach. Lumber and other debris from a fire in Cedar Key a week ago crashed ashore in the rising water.
“Please write your name, birthday, and important information on your arm or leg in a PERMANENT MARKER so that you can be identified and family notified,” the sheriff's office in mostly rural Taylor County warned those who chose not to evacuate in a Facebook Still, Philip Tooke, a commercial fisherman who took over the business his father founded near the region’s Apalachee Bay, planned to ride out this storm like he did during Hurricane Michael and the others — on his boat.
Federal authorities staged search-and-rescue teams as the weather service forecast storm surges of up to 20 feet and warned they could be particularly “catastrophic and unsurvivable” in Apalachee Bay.
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