Helene designates Florida as a Category 4 hurricane and then rapidly weakens as it moves inland; More than 2 million without electricity

Hurricane Helene was dangerous Category 4 Storm passed as it made landfall Florida's Big Bend area The National Hurricane Center said the storm weakened significantly late Thursday night as it tracked inland early Friday and was downgraded to a tropical storm within hours. Still, Helene brought a “life-threatening” storm surge, strong winds and heavy rain, the center said.

At 5 a.m. EDT, Helene was about 40 miles east of Macon, Georgia and 100 miles southeast of Atlanta and was barreling north at 30 mph, the Miami-based hurricane center said. Maximum sustained winds were 70 miles per hour, 4 miles per hour below the threshold for a storm that would have hurricane status and half what they were when Helene came ashore over Florida's Gulf Coast.

According to the hurricane center, Helene made landfall about 10 miles west of Perry, Florida, at 11:10 p.m. Eastern Time with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph.

“This is the fourth hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast this year. This has only happened five times in history,” Weather Channel meteorologist Stephanie Abrams said Friday on “CBS Mornings.”

According to utility PowerOutage.us, around 1.2 million customers in Florida were without power early Friday morning.

About 840,000 in Georgia, 552,000 in South Carolina and 191,000 in North Carolina were without power. These numbers grew quickly.

Additionally, about 9,000 homes and businesses in Virginia were without power, for a total of nearly 2.8 million across the five states.

So far there have been at least three weather-related deaths that could be attributed to Helene. Two people were killed in Wheeler County, Georgia, county coroner Ted Mercer told CBS News by phone. No further information was provided.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis confirmed in a late-night news conference that at least one person was killed in the Tampa area when a traffic sign fell on a vehicle.

DeSantis said about 3,500 National Guard troops are standing by to respond to emergencies.

Several Airports closed Airlines canceled nearly 1,300 flights due to the storm on Thursday, according to FlightAware. By 5:30 a.m., more than 600 US flights had already been canceled

The effect

CBS News Miami noticed When it reached land, Helene aimed directly at the sparsely populated area of ​​Big Bend, home to fishing villages and resort towns where Florida's panhandle and the peninsula meet. There were closed gas stations all over the two-lane highway, their windows boarded up with plywood.

Last August, Hurricane Idalia, a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour, unleashed a record-breaking storm surge from Tampa to Big Bend. Hurricane Debby also hit the area in August of this year.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue's Urban Search and Rescue team members are currently stationed in Ocala, which is inland from Big Bend.

Known as the “Forgotten Coast,” this stretch of Florida has been largely spared from the widespread condominium development and commercialization that dominates so many Florida beach communities. The region is popular for its natural wonders – the extensive salt marshes, tide pools and barrier islands; the dwarf cypress trees in Tate's Hell State Forest; and Wakulla Springs, considered one of the largest and deepest freshwater springs in the world.

More than 175 people were housed in a school in Tallahassee.

Annie Sloan, who was one of them, told CBS News Miami: “I decided to come to the shelter because I live alone and basically my son came to take me to Georgia, but we found out the hurricane was also heading toward Georgia, and I decided to just come here and seek shelter because my husband passed away and I didn't want to be home alone.

But many followed mandatory evacuation orders that stretched from the Panhandle south along the Gulf Coast to low-lying areas around Tallahassee, Gainesville, Cedar Key, Lake City, Tampa and Sarasota.

Most gas stations in the Tallahassee area were closed or out of gas.

School districts and numerous universities have canceled classes for Friday.

The view

“A turn to the north is expected this morning, centered over central and northeast Georgia. “Helene is then expected to turn northwestward and slow over the Tennessee Valley later today and Saturday,” the hurricane center reported. “Further weakening is expected and Helene is expected to reach a post-tropical low this afternoon or this evening.

“However, the rapid forward speed will allow strong, damaging winds, particularly in gusts, to penetrate well inland across the southeastern United States, including over the higher terrain of the southern Appalachians.”

The center also said, “In portions of the southeastern U.S. into the southern Appalachians, Helene is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 6 to 12 inches, with isolated totals of about 20 inches.” This rainfall is likely to result in catastrophic and potentially life-threatening consequences.” Imminent flash and urban flooding is expected, as well as significant and record-breaking river flooding in steep terrain in the southern Appalachians.

The Weather Channel's Abrams said: “We've already seen double-digit rainfall in western North Carolina, and we could get another half a foot or more. That means there is a risk of catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding… with the possibility, by the way, the flooding extending to the Mississippi River will cause rivers to rise, some of which could exceed their records by several feet.

CBS News senior weather and climate producer David Parkinson described Helene as a “giant” storm.

Its tropical-storm-force winds spread outward up to 275 miles from its center, mostly east of that center, the hurricane center said.

NASA released video of the hurricane as seen from the International Space Station, showing the size of the storm as it raged across the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday afternoon.

Meteorologists expected the storm surge to reach five to 10 feet from the Aucilla River in Florida to Chassahowitzka, Florida. The hurricane center warned that other areas could see three to seven feet of water.

“The water impacts will likely be the most impactful and deadly part of the storm,” Jamie Rhome, deputy director of the hurricane center, told CBS News.

The possibility of tornadoes remained a concern as the hurricane center said they could appear across the Carolinas and southern Virginia in parts of eastern Georgia Friday morning and throughout the afternoon.

President Biden and DeSantis declared a state of emergency in the state earlier this week Evacuation orders were issued in several counties. At the University of Tampa, officials attempted to evacuate all residential students by Wednesday afternoon.

A state of emergency has also been declared in Georgia, North and South Carolina, and as far north as Virginia.

Exceptionally warm Gulf waters fuel hurricanes

Record-warm water in the Gulf almost certainly acted as fuel, intensifying the storm. Brian McNoldy, a senior research fellow at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, recently noted this Heat content of the oceans in the Gulf of Mexico is the highest on record. Warm water is a necessary component for strengthening tropical systems.

Sea surface temperatures along Helene's path were as high as 89 degrees Fahrenheit – 2 to 4 degrees above normal.

According to Climate Central, these record water temperatures were made significantly more likely by human-caused climate change. The entire North Atlantic experienced record temperatures in 2024, trapping 90% of excess heat Climate change produced by Greenhouse gas pollution.

Manuel Bojorquez, Aimee Picchi and Dave Malkoff contributed to this report.