Tropical Storm Helene Triggers Hurricane Watches in Florida
(Bloomberg) -- Tropical Storm Helene strengthened as it moved toward the Gulf of Mexico, prompting hurricane watches in parts of Cuba and Mexico as well as evacuations along Florida’s western coastline.
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Helene’s top winds rose to 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour, up from 45 mph earlier, and it is about 155 miles east-southeast of Cozumel, Mexico, drifting northwest, the US National Hurricane Center said in an advisory at 5 p.m. New York time. The storm is expected to approach Florida on Thursday as a Category 3 major hurricane, and, in addition to its strengthening winds, the storm will swell in size, amplifying its effects.
Helene will likely tear across Florida’s sparsely populated Big Bend region this week before plunging into southern Georgia, said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler with Enki Research. Losses and damages may total more than $12 billion.
“Helene is expected to rapidly intensify over the eastern Gulf of Mexico,” Robbie Berg, a meteorologist at the hurricane center, wrote in his forecast. “The risks of impacts from life-threatening storm surge and damaging hurricane-force winds continues to increase along the coast of the Florida Panhandle and Florida west coast.”
Mandatory and voluntary evacuations have begun in 13 counties in Helene’s path, the Florida Division of Emergency Management said in an X post. In addition, Governor Ron DeSantis declared an emergency in 61 counties as Helene moves north. Sarasota County asked residents in at least three neighborhoods to start leaving their homes Wednesday, according to the county’s website.
The potential hurricane has also triggered the evacuation of some Gulf oil and natural gas platforms. Tropical-storm strength winds are forecast to reach the Florida Keys Wednesday afternoon and spread across most of southern Florida by Thursday morning.
Hurricanes depend on warm ocean water to grow stronger, and the water directly in front of Helene, as well as along Florida’s western coastline, is 87F (31C), according to the US National Data Buoy Center.
Berg said Helene, a physically large storm, is forecast to drench a wide area from Cuba and Mexico to the Appalachian Mountains with heavy rain as it moves north, sending rivers over their banks and triggering mudslides. Up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain is forecast across parts of Florida and Georgia. In addition, Helene will push a wall of water onshore as it nears the coast.
Helene is also threatening to derail a critical late-season series between baseball’s New York Mets and Atlanta Braves. The two teams, trailing the division-winning Philadelphia Phillies, open a three-game series Tuesday in Atlanta. While there is a chance of showers Tuesday and thunderstorms are possible Wednesday, Thursday threatens to unleash a seat-shaking, fan-drenching tropical storm, according to the National Weather Service.
Meanwhile, torrential rain is falling across southwestern Mexico, where Hurricane John came ashore in the state of Guerrero late Monday as a Category 3 storm.
Two people were killed in a landslide caused by the storm, Guerrero Governor Evelyn Salgado said in a press briefing. John dissipated Tuesday afternoon, but its remnants will continue to bring dangerous flash flooding along the southern Mexican coast for days.
“That storm is going to meander around coastal Mexico for the next several days, bringing very significant rainfall to the mountainous regions,” said Tyler Roys, a meteorologist with commercial forecaster AccuWeather Inc. “That is really our main concern going forward. This is a very life-threatening situation.”
Parts of Chiapas may get as much as 15 inches of rain, while the neighboring states of Oaxaca and Guerrero may see up to 20 inches with isolated spots getting as much as 30 inches, the US hurricane center said. Acapulco, still recovering from a direct hit by Hurricane Otis in October, will get drenched again, Watson said.
More than 64,000 people still had their electricity connections affected as of early Tuesday, according to data from Mexico’s state utility Comision Federal de Electricidad.
John made landfall on the Pacific coast, and Helene threatens to unleash flooding in the Yucatan just days before President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum is set to take office on Oct. 1. That’s raising the stakes for the incoming administration to manage the crisis in her first days in office.
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In addition to Helene, the hurricane center is tracking a second Atlantic system in the central Atlantic that has an 80% chance of becoming a storm in the next week.
--With assistance from Scott Squires and Mary Hui.
(Updates Helene’s strength in second paragraph.)
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