Hurricane

Unsettled weather conditions for parts of Florida will make recovery and cleanup efforts harder for some.

After three years of hurricanes barreling up the Gulf of Mexico, battered North Florida residents may feel they are living in a new Florida Hurricane Alley. But experts say there have not been any real changes in hurricane geographic patterns.

Dan Brown, a specialist at the National Hurricane Center near Miami, said Helene had all the attributes that make a storm widely destructive. “Systems that get very powerful, large and fast moving unfortunately do bring the potential for impact and damage well inland.”

And while the South Florida area was spared from such destruction, many residents in parts of the Tampa Bay area were surprised by the water whipping over seawalls and flooding coastal areas. The surge began when the center of Helene was still hundreds of miles away.

UPDATED: Hurricane Helene has weakened into a tropical storm over Georgia after making landfall overnight in northwestern Florida as a Category 4 storm. Authorities rescued people trapped by floodwaters and more than 3 million customers were in the dark across much of the southeastern U.S. early Friday.

With little time to spare scientists with the USGS attached wave sensors on anything the agency thought might be standing after Hurricane Helene roared through

Hurricane Helene is projected to be a Category 3 hurricane when it makes landfall in the Big Bend region Thursday night or Friday morning.

The storm, which could make landfall as a Category 4 hurricane and create storm surges of up to 18 feet across parts of the Gulf Coast, forced at least 16 Florida counties to issue mandatory evacuations, including three total evacuations in Franklin, Taylor and Wakulla counties.

The latest list of Helene-related announcements throughout South Florida.

Helene is expected to grow in size and strength before making landfall. Here is what you need to know to prepare for the system as it rapidly approaches Florida.

Helene is set to become a major category hurricane once it travels over the eastern Gulf of Mexico—LIfe-threatening storm surge for parts of the west coast of Florida and Big Bend.

PTC 9 is set to become Tropical Storm Helene as it moves closer to the Gulf of Mexico through Tuesday morning. It will pick up speed but also strength before hitting Florida.