Helene now upgraded to ‘extremely dangerous’ Category 4 hurricane
UPDATE: Helene strengthens to an ‘extremely dangerous’ Category 4 hurricane as it takes aim at northwest Florida.
Helene strengthened into a major Category 3 hurricane Thursday as it barreled across the Gulf of Mexico on a path to Florida.
The hurricane was about 195 miles (315 kilometers) southwest of Tampa and had sustained winds of at least 111 mph (179 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. The huge storm’s center is expected to make landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida’s northwestern coast Thursday evening.
Hurricane warnings and flash flood warnings extended far beyond the coast up into south-central Georgia. The governors of Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia have all declared emergencies in their states.
Helene became a tropical storm Tuesday in the western Caribbean Sea and became a hurricane Wednesday.
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