Storm tracker map shows where Hurricane Helene will hit next --[Reported by Umva mag]

Tropical Storm Helene moved into Georgia early today after thrashing Florida with screeching 140mph winds and heavy, flooding rainfall.

Two people have already died in a tornado in Wheeler County, Georgia, Governor Brian Kemp said.

‘We urge all Georgians to brace for further impact from Helene, remain vigilant, and pray for all those affected,’ he said on X.

The ‘unsurvivable’ Category 4 hurricane made landfall Thursday night as the most powerful to ever strike Florida’s Big Bend region since records began.

Along the state’s Gulf Coast, gusts tore down power lines and trees and whipped up waves that slammed into bridges and roads, capsized boats and engulfed buildings.

Florida has confirmed at least one death after a sign fell on a car on a Tampa City highway.

A four-year-old girl was killed and two other children, 12 and two, were taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries in a car crash in Catawba County, North Carolina, during the heavy rains caused by the storm.

Helene churned into Georgia as a Category 2 packing winds of 110mph earlier today, plunging the state into ‘an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation’, the National Hurricane Center said.

However, it has since weakened to a tropical storm carrying 70mph winds, while the swollen waters around Florida will slowly lower in the coming hours.

Helene’s storm surge – when seawater is forced ashore by hurricane-strong wind – has now entered Charleston, South Carolina, with high tide levels and tornado warnings in effect.

In North Carolina, the rains have become so intense that Lake Lure Dam risks overflowing, with communities downstream evacuated to higher ghreound.

According to officials, the remnants of Helene will whip up winds and extreme rainfall as it moves north across Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana this weekend.

Parts of Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee may see ‘life-threatening flash flooding’, strong winds and tornadoes, forecasters warn.

At least 37 million people from the southern tip of Florida to western North Carolina are under a tropical storm warning.

Nearly 1.3 million are in total darkness in Florida, while hundreds of thousands are also without power in Georgia and North and South Carolina.

The tropical storm formed Tuesday morning in the northwestern Caribbean Sea and has only intensified as it reached the Gulf of Mexico’s warm waters.

Experts say climate change, which is heating up the planet’s oceans and seas, is driving the intensity and number of hurricanes.

As Florida braced for what would be its third named storm in 13 months, it wasn’t just the hurricane people were worried about. It was the storm surge.

Also called a storm flood, the storm surge could cause the water along the Gulf of Mexico to swell by 20 feet and swallow up entire communities.

‘This is not a survivable event for those in coastal or low-lying areas,’ said Jared Miller, the sheriff of the coastal county of Wakulla.

Evacuations started on Tuesday in parts of Florida’s coast. Mandatory evacuations were ordered in parts of Charlotte, Franklin, Gulf, Hernando, Manatee, Pinellas and Sarasota counties.

Over the weekend, Helene will collide and combine with another weather system as it soaks central Kentucky and Tennessee, steadily heading east to the Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic region.

By Monday, flooding will remain a major concern as the heavy rain is likely to drag on.

The last time a Category 3 hurricane struck the US was Idalia in late August 2023. It went ashore in the Big Bend region and brought a record-breaking storm surge through Tampa.

If Helene makes landfall as a hurricane, it would be the fourth to strike the US mainland this season.

This article was first published on September 24.

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