Tallahassee, Florida’s capital, is at least 30 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico. The National Weather Service has no record of the city ever sustaining hurricane-force winds.

But as of Wednesday, Tallahassee was under a rare hurricane warning, meaning hurricane conditions are expected as Hurricane Helene rolls through Florida’s Big Bend region late on Thursday.

And that raised an unusual set of concerns for the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis, namely: Is the structure that houses the state’s emergency operations center able to withstand a hurricane?

“This building has never really been tested,” Mr. DeSantis said during a news briefing from the center on Wednesday afternoon.

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The walls were built to withstand a Category 5 storm — far stronger than what Helene would be over Tallahassee — but the roof was not built to quite the same level, Mr. DeSantis said. He added that officials nevertheless think the roof should at least hold up to 120 m.p.h. winds, the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane.

The governor said he and emergency staff intend to arrive at the center on Thursday and remain through the storm’s duration. Some emergency operations center staff will move farther west, to Escambia County in the western Florida Panhandle — and outside of Helene’s direct path — as backup. Mr. DeSantis said his family plans to stay in the Governor’s Mansion in Tallahassee, with shutters over the windows.

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