Tropical Storm Helene was rapidly strengthening in the Caribbean Sea and expected to become a hurricane Wednesday while moving north along Mexico’s coast toward the U.S., prompting residents to evacuate, schools to close and officials to declare emergencies in Florida and Georgia.
The storm is anticipated to be unusually large and fast-moving, meaning storm surges, wind and rain will likely extend far from the storm’s center, the hurricane center said.
“There’s clearly a pathway for this to rapidly intensify prior to making landfall,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “You’ll see these cones that get produced by the National Hurricane Center. You see these spaghetti models that get put out. ... You should look at that, but just understand this is a very big storm. You’re going to have impacts that are far outside of what a spaghetti model would have or what a cone would have.”
DeSantis has issued a state of emergency for most of the state’s counties.
Helene is forecast to “intensify and grow in size” as it moves north across the Gulf of Mexico. Heavy rainfall was forecast for the southeastern U.S. starting Wednesday, with a “life-threatening storm surge” along the entire west coast of Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center.
“It’s a big, big storm. It has the potential to have a lot of impact,” DeSantis said.
Helene is expected to become a major hurricane — a Category 3 or higher — on Thursday, the day it’s set to reach Florida’s Gulf Coast, according to the hurricane center. The center has issued hurricane warnings for part of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and Florida’s northwestern coastline, where large storm surges of up to 15 feet were expected.
President Joe Biden declared an emergency in Florida and deployed Federal Emergency Management Agency teams to Florida and Alabama to support local first responders. Federal authorities were positioning generators, food and water, along with search-and-rescue and power restoration teams, the White House said.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared an emergency in his state as well. States as far inland as Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana could see rainfall, the NHC said.
Helene, which formed Tuesday in the Caribbean, is expected to move over deep, warm waters, fueling its intensification. People in regions under hurricane warnings and watches should be prepared to lose power and should have enough food and water for at least three days, forecasters warned.
Early Wednesday, Helene was located about 45 miles east-northeast of Cozumel, Mexico, and about 120 miles southwest of the western tip of Cuba as it moved northwest at 9 mph.
Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the upper Florida Keys, the southern Florida Peninsula and the northeast coast of Florida early Wednesday. A tropical storm watch was in effect for the South Carolina coast north of the Savannah River to the South Santee River.
Hurricane watches — which are a step down from warnings — were also in effect for parts of western Cuba and Florida, including the Tampa Bay area, the hurricane center said.
“It’s going to be a very large system with impacts across all of Florida,” said Larry Kelly, a specialist at the hurricane center.
Several counties on Florida’s west and northwestern coasts have issued evacuation orders. Multiple school districts, including in the areas around Tampa and the state capital Tallahassee, plan to close schools or reduce hours starting Wednesday.
Some residents started filling sandbags ahead of anticipated flooding and began leaving areas on the coast.
Helene is the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. Since 2000, eight major hurricanes have made landfall in Florida, according to Philip Klotzbach, a Colorado State University hurricane researcher.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year because of record-warm ocean temperatures. It forecast 17 to 25 named storms before the season ends Nov. 30, with four to seven major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher.
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Associated Press journalists Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Andrea Rodríguez in Havana; Marcia Dunn in Cape Canaveral, Florida; Mark Stevenson and María Verza in Mexico City; and Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, contributed to this report.