One killed as ‘extremely dangerous’ Hurricane Helene slams into US
Al Jazeera
The National Hurricane Center director has said an ‘unsurvivable scenario’ will play out in areas of Florida’s coast.
Officials in the US state of Florida are pleading with residents to heed mandatory evacuation orders or face life-threatening conditions, as the enormous Hurricane Helene advanced across the Gulf of Mexico towards the United States.
Hurricane Helene swamped parts of Mexico and has already brought tropical storm conditions to Florida, where one person was killed on Thursday evening after a sign fell on their car on a highway in Tampa amid violent winds and rain, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
“EVERYONE along the Florida Big Bend coast is at risk of potentially catastrophic storm surge,” the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on social media.
The NHC has upgraded Helene, which was expected to make landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region at about 11pm local time (3am GMT, Friday), to an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 with sustained winds near 130 miles per hour (209km/h).
“We’re expecting to see a storm surge inundation of 15 to 20 feet [4.5 to 6 metres] above ground level,” NHC director Mike Brennan said in a video briefing.
