As Helene thrashes the Florida Panhandle with “unsurvivable” storm surge and “catastrophic” winds Thursday evening, people across the Southeast were bracing for the storm’s arrival in their region in the coming hours and days.
The worst was expected to hit in the late evening and overnight in the Big Bend of Florida, including Tallahassee. Here’s a look at the next few days.
Friday: The storm quickly follows Interstate 75 north out of Florida.The storm is expected to move very quickly overnight, reaching north Georgia by Friday morning, and the worst will be quickly over in Florida. But this storm’s quick pace will mean the core of its most intense winds could extend all the way to near the Atlanta metro area.
Because of the vast size of Helene, the tropical storm-force wind gusts are also likely across Georgia and the Carolinas late Thursday and into the day Friday, particularly over the higher terrain of the southern Appalachians.
Even worse is the heavy tropical rainfall tied up in the storm, which will push further into the Appalachian Mountains, where the National Weather Service has warned the storm will be one of the most significant “in the modern era.”
For the third day in a row, from foothills in Atlanta to mountains in Asheville, where rivers and creeks are already pushed to the brim, even more extreme rain is expected to fall on Friday.
The combination of the wind and the wet soil will make it much easier for trees to fall. And it makes the rough terrain susceptible to landslides.
As Helene moves north, it will begin to spin around another storm system, which will make it turn left over Tennessee.
This weekend: The remnants of the storm will lingerRain will fall across central Kentucky and Tennessee eastward to the central Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic region the remnants of Helene combine with another weather system.
This rainfall could result in more flooding as the rains persist through Monday.vvjl