T+ T – Normal size
Hurricane Helen struck the west coast of Florida, bringing with it dangerous winds, cutting off power to more than a million consumers, and also threatening massive, deadly floods in many US states.
Hurricane Helen made landfall near Perry, with strong winds reaching 140 miles (225 kilometers) per hour, according to a report issued by the US National Hurricane Center, making it a Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale of five degrees.
The hurricane’s massive size means it is expected to bring heavy rain and flooding to cities hundreds of miles away, including Atlanta and Asheville, North Carolina. Before making landfall, its outward winds extended 310 miles, with the storm causing widespread disruptions to land and air travel.
According to the website (Power Outage.US), more than 1.3 million homes and businesses were without electricity in the American Southeast, with the vast majority of them in Florida. The storm also shut down about a quarter of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and a fifth of gas activity, according to a notice issued Thursday by the Office of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.
Shortly before making landfall, the National Hurricane Center classified the hurricane as an “extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane” at 6:20 p.m. (2220 GMT).
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in a press conference, “Hurricane Helen is currently hitting Taylor County, in the Big Bend, in the state of Florida.
It is a Category 4 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour (225 kilometers per hour) and moving from north to northeast at 24 miles per hour.
He added, “We have received a report about a fatality on the road, in the Tampa area. You must be alert now.”
The governor added that emergency crews do not yet know the extent of the damage caused at this time. We don’t get a complete picture yet.”
The governor of Florida said in a video briefing that it is “a very strong storm, so you will see tropical weather that will extend hundreds of miles away from the center of the storm.”
