The meteorological department has forecasted the Hurricane Helene to rapidly strengthen and that it could hit Florida on Thursday as a Category 4 storm producing winds blowing up to 156 miles (251 km per hour). The storm entered the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday and was expected to pick up strength as it got mixed with the warm waters of the Gulf. It is expected to make landfall in the US state of Florida’s panhandle on Thursday evening.
The storm surges, the wall of seawater created by the force of hurricane winds has been upgraded from 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to 6.1 metres) in the Big Bend area of the panhandle. More than 40 million people have been affected across the states of Florida, Georgia, and Alabama and they were warned of the tropical storm beforehand.
Regions where the Hurricane Helene is expected to hit
Numerous places like the Sarasota and Charlotte counties have announced school closures, while numerous evacuations have been ordered along the coast of Florida Gulf. Pinellas County administration ordered evacuations of long term healthcare facilities including nursing facilities and hospitals near the coast. The county is located on a peninsula surrounded by Tampa Bay on one end and the Gulf of Mexico on other.
Helene lashed Cuba with heavy rains overnight measuring up to 8 inches (20.3 cm) in just 24 hours across parts of the tobacco growing provinces such as Pinar del Rio.
