HEAVY RAIN AND intensifying winds have pummeled Florida as parts of the state braced for “unsurvivable” conditions ahead of Hurricane Helene’s landfall later today, with officials warning of a six-meter storm surge that could submerge the state’s low-lying coast.
Residents were making final preparations, loading up on petrol and heeding mass evacuation orders ahead of the hurricane – projected to be one of the largest Gulf of Mexico storms in decades.
Fast-moving Helene was upgraded this afternoon to a “major” Category 3 hurricane, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami said.
Charles Starling, a lineman with Team Fishel, is pelted with rain as he walks by a row of electrical line trucks staged in a field in The Villages, Florida. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo
The storm brought with it winds of 193 kilometers per hour as it churned over the Gulf’s warm waters, and “additional strengthening is expected before Helene makes landfall in the …