Hurricane Helene intensified into a dangerous Category 4 storm in the Gulf of Mexico before hitting Florida’s Big Bend area late Thursday night. The National Hurricane Center in Miami warned of “catastrophic and deadly” storm surge, which could reach up to 20 feet in certain regions, along with powerful, destructive winds.
Over 1.1 million customers in Florida are without power, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us, with another 70,000 outages reported in Georgia.
Multiple weather-related fatalities have been linked to Helene. Two people were killed in Wheeler County, Georgia, according to county coroner Ted Mercer, who told CBS News by phone. No further details were released.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced during a late-night news briefing that one person died in the Tampa area when a traffic sign struck a vehicle.
DeSantis stated that around 3,500 National Guardsmen were ready to assist with emergencies.
