EXPLAINER

Hurricane Helene has been downgraded to a category one storm but authorities warn rainfall and winds are still a danger.

Hurricane Helene struck Florida’s Big Bend region on Thursday night, classed as a category four storm with potential to inflict significant damage and loss of life. Thousands of residents were evacuated, and nearly the entire state was placed under alert.

Hurricane Helene is now classified as category one, less severe but still considered dangerous. Authorities warned that rainfall and winds still pose a danger to people in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

Here’s what we know about Hurricane Helene, its impact on Florida and its trajectory across the US.

 What happened when Hurricane Helene hit Florida?

• Hurricane Helene made landfall at about 03:10 GMT on Thursday night (23:10 Eastern Standard Time) with maximum sustained winds estimated at 225 kilometres per hour (140 miles per hour).

11:20pm EDT 26th September — #Hurricane #Helene has made landfall in the Florida Big Bend region at around 11:10pm EDT just E of the mouth of the Aucilla
River.

Max sustained winds at landfall were estimated at 140 mph & a min pressure of 938 mb.

Info: https://t.co/1OTHyJkqja pic.twitter.com/WWohcTqpBa

— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 27, 2024

• As a category four storm, it was the most powerful ever to hit the state’s Big Bend region. Some hours later, at about 06:40 GMT, authorities downgraded the hurricane to category one but warned that heavy rainfall and strong, damaging winds still posed a significant threat.
• Fallen trees brought down power lines across the state and, as of 06:40 GMT, almost 1.3 million people in Florida were without power, according to tracking site poweroutage.us. Florida has a population of 22 million people.
• Earlier, the weather service warned people to treat the strong winds “like a tornado is coming and quickly move to an interior room or shelter NOW!”
• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has urged residents to remain indoors and avoid roadways as significant storm surge from Helene floods the streets and creates dangerous conditions.

Which direction is Hurricane Helene moving?

• Helene landed near the mouth of the Aucilla River in the Big Bend area of Florida’s Gulf Coast.

• At 05:00 GMT local authorities said Helene was moving northwards to Georgia. The National Hurricane Center said the eyewall – the part of the storm with the strongest winds underneath it – was entering the southern part of the state.
• Authorities said damaging winds will be felt across Georgia and the Carolinas throughout Friday, especially in the higher areas of the Southern Appalachians in North Carolina.

What do hurricane categories mean?

• The National Weather Service (NWS) in the US employs the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale to classify storms.
• Hurricanes are assigned a category from one to five depending on the sustained wind speed.
• Categories one and two are considered “dangerous” but those reaching category three and above “are considered major hurricanes because of their potential for significant loss of life and damage”.
• A category four hurricane will sustain winds from 209-251 km/h (130-156 mph), while category one will have winds at 119-153 km/h (74-95 mph).
• Winds are a cause of great concern as they can wreak a vast amount of damage. “When the winds hit, they can make anything a projectile, anything that is not screwed down – road signs, furniture – can fly through the air and can damage property and can damage people. Roof tiles can come off, trees can come down, and hit power lines,” Al Jazeera’s Phil Lavelle reported from Tallahassee, Florida.

What are conditions like in Georgia and neighbouring states?

• According to the National Weather Service, more than 37 million people from the southern tip of Florida to western North Carolina were placed under a tropical storm warning early Friday. This means that tropical storm conditions, with winds reaching 117 km/h (73 mph), are anticipated in the area within the next 36 hours.
• Early Friday, some 770,709 people were without power across Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, according to poweroutage.us, a tracking site.
• In Georgia, Helene could bring 30.5cm (12 inches) of rain or more on Friday, potentially devastating the state’s cotton and pecan crops, which are mid-harvest. “The current forecast for Hurricane Helene suggests this storm will impact every part of our state,” Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said.
• In North Carolina, more than 260,000 people have been placed under a flash flood warning in Asheville. The National Water Center warned that significant flooding along the Swannanoa River is possible.

Flash Flood Warning including Rutherford County, NC until 9:30 AM EDT pic.twitter.com/j8OWTfPweS

— NWS GSP (@NWSGSP) September 27, 2024

• President Biden, who authorised on Thursday disaster declarations for Florida, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, urged people to treat the storm “extremely seriously”, cautioning that it was expected to be “catastrophic”.

What do we know about the victims?

• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis reported that one person was killed when a sign fell onto a car travelling on Interstate 4 near Ybor City in the Tampa area. “So that just shows you that it’s very dangerous conditions out there,” the governor said in a news conference Thursday night. “You need to be, right now, just hunkering down. Now is not the time to be going out.”
• DeSantis said more deaths were possible as the storm advances and that 3,500 National Guardsmen were standing by to help respond. “When Floridians wake up tomorrow morning, we’re going to be waking up to a state where, very likely, there’s been additional loss of life. And certainly, there’s going to be loss of property,” DeSantis added.
• In Georgia, two people in Wheeler County died when a suspected tornado struck a mobile home, local media reported. CNN reported that the suspected tornado was linked to Hurricane Helene’s storm system.
• In North Carolina, a four-year-old girl was killed in a car crash, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety. Amid heavy rains, the girl was travelling in an SUV that crossed the centreline of the roadway and crashed into another vehicle. A woman, a four-year-old and a 12-year-old were sent to the hospital, but the youngest died from her injuries, local media reported.

3am EDT Friday Tropical Cyclone Update on #Hurricane #Helene:

Hurricane force winds continue to move into #Georgia. Please continue to shelter in place through the passage of these life-threatening conditions.https://t.co/XtkxtGDQLT pic.twitter.com/nrQRUvLLWI

— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 27, 2024