New York Post By Anna Young
Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida late Thursday night as a dangerous Category 4 storm that will slam the sunshine state with torrential rainfall, potentially “unsurvivable” storm surge and life-threatening winds.
The catastrophic storm – one of the largest ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico – strengthened to an “extremely dangerous ” Category 4 hurricane on Thursday with maximum-sustained winds of 140 mph impacting Florida’s Big Bend, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Over 2.1 million customers were left without power Friday morning as Helene continued its rampage across the southeast.
In Florida, 1.25 million were left in the dark as Georgia and South Carolina customers reached 644,000 and 200,000 by 4:30 a.m., according to poweroutage.us.
The eye of the storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in the Florida Big Bend region around 11:10 p.m. just east of the mouth of the Aucilla River – about 10 miles west-southwest of Perry, Florida.
The storm weakened to Category 2 hurricane as it raced into Georgia, but was still packing a punch with 110 mph winds, forecasters said.
Before Helene made landfall, a driver was killed in Ybor City outside Tampa Bay when a sign fell on top of their vehicle, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis and reports.
And in Georgia, two people died in a possible tornado from Helene’s outer bands as the storm bore down on the coast.
Experts have also warned that a large stretch of the Florida Panhandle could see “unsurvivable” storm surge of up to 20 feet.
Helene will bring torrential rainfall – approximately 6 to 12 inches of rain – leading to potentially life-threatening flash and urban flooding, along with significant river flooding, to Florida and beyond, including two distinct areas of the rare level 4 of 4 excessive rainfall risk throughout the Southeast, weather officials said.
A state of emergency has been declared in 61 of Florida’s 67 counties, and several in the storm’s path are under evacuation orders…
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