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By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and STEPHEN SMITH Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — An enormous Hurricane Helene swamped parts of Mexico on Wednesday as it churned on a path forecasters said would take it to Florida as a major storm with a surge that could swallow entire homes, a chilling warning that sent residents scrambling for higher ground, closed schools, and led to states of emergency throughout the Southeast.
Helene’s center was about 460 miles (735 kilometers) southwest of Tampa, Florida, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, and the hurricane was expected to intensify and grow as it crosses the Gulf of Mexico.
“Just hope and pray that everybody’s safe,” said Connie Dillard, of Tallahassee, as she shopped at a grocery store with thinning shelves of water and bread in preparation for hitting the highway out of town. “That’s all you can do.”
The hurricane ranks in the 90th percentile for its sheer size, and it could create a storm surge as high as 18 feet (5 1/2 meters) in places, forecasters said. The fast-moving storm’s wind and rain could penetrate far inland, even as it weakens after landfall in Florida late Thursday, authorities warned.
One insurance firm, Gallagher Re, is expecting billions of dollars in damage in the U.S. Around 18,000 linemen from out of state staged in Florida, ready to help restore power. Airports in St. Petersburg, Tallahassee and Tampa were planning to close on Thursday, and 62 hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities evacuated their residents Wednesday.
Helene was moving north at 12 mph (19 kph) with top sustained winds of 85 mph (140 kph) and was expected to intensify over the warm waters of the Gulf. Forecasters said it should become a major Category 3 or higher hurricane Thursday with winds above 110 mph (177 kph). Its center is projected to hit Florida’s Big Bend area, the curving stretch of Gulf coastline in the state’s north.
In Tallahassee, where stations had started to run out of gas, 19-year-old Florida A&M student Kameron Benjamin filled sandbags with his roommate to protect their apartment before evacuating. Their school and Florida State shut down.
“This hurricane is heading straight to Tallahassee, so I really don’t know what to expect,” Benjamin said.
As Big Bend residents battened down their homes, many saw the ghost of 2018’s Hurricane Michael. That storm rapidly intensified and crashed ashore as a Category 5 that laid waste to Panama City and parts of the rural Panhandle.
“People are taking heed and hightailing it out of there for higher ground,” said Kristin Korinko, a Tallahassee resident who serves as the commodore of the Shell Point Sailboard Club, on the Gulf Coast about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Tallahassee.
In Crawfordville, Florida, Will Glenn spent most of Wednesday boarding up his windows and gathering family mementos before evacuating. “This could be it,” he said.
For toughened Floridians who are used to hurricanes, Robbie Berg, a national warning coordinator for the hurricane center, advised: “Please do not compare it to other storms you may have experienced over the past year or two.”
With tropical storm-force winds extending up to 345 miles (555 kilometers) from its center, Helene is forecast to be one of the largest storms in breadth in seven years to hit the Gulf of Mexico region, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.
He said since 1988, only three Gulf of Mexico hurricanes were bigger than Helene is forecasted to get: 2017’s Irma, 2005’s Wilma and 1995’s Opal.
“By every measure this makes it worse,” said University of Miami senior hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy. “Places that are not used to experiencing hurricanes are going to experience one.”
Areas 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of the Georgia-Florida line can expect hurricane conditions. Nearly half of Georgia’s public school districts, from the top to the bottom of the state, have canceled class because of the approaching storm.
And for Atlanta, which is under a tropical storm watch, Helene could be the worst strike on a major Southern inland city in 35 years, said University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd.
“It’s going to be a lot like Hugo in Charlotte,” Shepherd said of the 1989 storm that struck the North Carolina city, knocking out power to 85% of customers as winds gusted above hurricane force.
Landslides were possible in southern Appalachia, with catastrophic flooding predicted in the Carolinas and Georgia, where all three governors declared emergencies. Rainfall is possible as far away as Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana.
Parts of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula were under hurricane warnings as Helene wound between it and the western tip of Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico. The storm formed Tuesday in the Caribbean, and it flooded streets and toppled trees as it passed offshore and brushed the resort city of Cancun.
In Cuba, authorities moved cattle to higher ground and medical brigades went to communities often cut off by storms. The government preventively shut off power in some communities as waves as high as 16 feet (5 meters) slammed Cortes Bay. In the Cayman Islands, schools remained closed as residents pumped water from flooded homes.
In the U.S., federal authorities positioned generators, food and water, along with search-and-rescue and power restoration teams.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned that Helene could be as strong as a Category 4 hurricane when it makes landfall late Thursday and quickly plows through the Tallahassee area.
The state was providing buses to evacuate people in the state’s Big Bend region and taking them to shelters in Tallahassee.
But near Florida’s center, outside Orlando, Walt Disney World said its only closures Thursday would be the Typhoon Lagoon water park and its miniature golf courses.
Helene is the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. Since 2000, eight major hurricanes have made landfall in Florida, said Klotzbach. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year because of record-warm ocean temperatures.
In the Pacific, former Hurricane John reformed Wednesday as a tropical storm and was strengthening as it threatened areas of Mexico’s western coast anew. Officials issued hurricane watches for it, too.
John had hit the country’s southern Pacific coast late Monday, killing at least two people, triggering mudslides, and damaging homes and trees. It grew into a Category 3 hurricane in a matter of hours and made landfall east of Acapulco. It weakened after moving inland but later reemerged over the ocean.
Associated Press journalists Seth Borenstein in New York; Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Andrea Rodríguez in Havana; Mark Stevenson and María Verza in Mexico City; and Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, contributed to this report. Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas.
