A day out from what is predicted to be a major hurricane, Gov. Ron DeSantis warned Floridians to heed local evacuation warnings and to finalize preparations in anticipation of Hurricane Helene.
Currently a tropical storm, Gov. DeSantis fretted that it could be even more intense than Hurricane Idalia in 2023, a near-Category 4 storm that devastated parts of the Big Bend.
"It's gonna have a clear runway in the Gulf of Mexico," he cautioned onlookers at a Wednesday morning press conference in Hillsborough County, which began evacuations for residents in low-lying areas at 9 a.m. today. "This is a very big storm, and you're going to have impacts far outside what a spaghetti or cone model would have...I would heed [evacuation warnings] because you can hide from the winds...but you gotta run from the water."
Helene, which is expected to become a hurricane later today, is predicted to make landfall between the Big Bend area and the Panhandle Thursday evening as a Category 3 storm, meaning winds of up to 129 mph could whip the Gulf Coast. It's currently off the northeastern coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, though as of 8 a.m., was nearing hurricane strength, ABC reported.
Florida is bracing for storm surges of 3 feet to 15 feet from the Upper Keys to Apalachicola, with just three counties—Escambia, Okaloosa, and Santa Rosa—being excluded from any sort of flood, tropical storm, or hurricane watch or warning. Of the 67 counties, 61 are under a state of emergency, and on Tuesday evening, President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for the state. DeSantis said the FEMA approval for a Pre-Landfall Emergency Declaration was only "partially" approved, so he will try to "go back and get more robust approval."
"You still have time to prepare," DeSantis continued, acknowledging that while many Floridians will likely lose power, outside aid in conjunction with the Florida Department of Transportation, 3,000 National Guardsmen, the State Guard, and 18,000 linemen are at the ready once the storm makes landfall. He also pointed out that the cone and spaghetti models are not definite, and they do not show that impacts up to 250 miles from the eye of the storm can be felt, so—plan accordingly.
As of 10:30 a.m., three counties are under mandatory evacuation orders, ten have mandatory evacuation orders in some areas, three have some voluntary and some mandatory evacuation orders, two have voluntary evacuations countywide, and one has voluntary evacuations in some areas.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie echoed DeSantis' calls for caution, stressing that everyone needs to have government alerts turned on in their phone settings because "you're going to need to listen and be ready," he said.
"Check your phones...Miami-Dade, Broward, and the Keys were not under any type of warning until 5 a.m. when they started to experience some of the outer bands," Guthrie continued, before adding that other natural disasters like tornadoes are "probable" in the wake of a powerful hurricane.
Both Guthrie and DeSantis highlighted the importance of having fresh batteries on hand, cleaning up yard debris before the storm arrives, not abandoning pets, and making sure to run backup generators outside of the home to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning.
