For the past several days, weather watchers have been tracking the movements (or predicted movements) of a named storm, a hurricane called Helene, developing in the Gulf of Mexico.
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Earlier on Thursday, weather experts said that the storm had been upgraded to a Category 3 hurricane, classifying it as a major weather event that threatens to bring with it potentially damaging and deadly winds, massive flooding, and deaths in its wake: The first target in its path in the U.S.: the state of Florida, and onward northward through Georgia and Appalachia.
Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) sent out an urgent message to state residents via X on Thursday morning:
The post read:
Hurricane Helene is going to make landfall this evening in the Big Bend, but dangerous conditions will be present throughout the rest of the state—even outside the forecast cone. To stay safe from hazards like debris, downed power lines, and standing water, do not try to do any work in the dark tonight. State and local emergency management officials are ready to assist seniors and others in need of help clearing debris after the storm passes.
Florida GOP Senator Marco Rubio warned about the frightening projections on storm surges:
If you can’t see the post, it reads:
15-20ft storm surge projected for parts of Florida’s big-bend
No one will survive surges like this
If you are in an evacuation zone please get out now!
But things have intensified in the past few hours, and the latest breaking news is that Helene is now a Category 4 hurricane.
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As the New York Times reports in the latest update, even hardened veterans of previous major hurricanes are bugging out:
Size and strength: Helene became a Category 4 hurricane just after 6 p.m. on Thursday. Forecasters with the National Hurricane Center predicted that it would make landfall at that strength. In terms of sheer size, Helene is at the upper bound of what hurricanes can reach, they added.
Appalachian impacts: Forecasters predicted “significant landslides” across southern Appalachia through Friday. The Blue Ridge Mountains could see 15 to 20 inches of rain as the hurricane approaches — and some areas could be inundated with as much as 30 inches.
More evacuees: Some longtime residents of coastal Florida, seasoned hurricane veterans who said they had never before evacuated, were leaving home, faced with Helene’s size and strength. But Michael Bobbitt, a novelist who decided to stay put, said worry had given way to calm: “There’s a resignation here, now.”
Power outages: More than 200,000 customers were already without power across Florida, Georgia and North Carolina on Thursday evening. Widespread damage to the power grid could cause outages that last days, if not weeks, forecasters warned.
If it makes landfall at the same level (which is the current prediction), it’s going to pack a wallop and the storm surge is going to be monstrous. It would be prudent to heed the warnings of state and local officials, if anyone reading this is in the way of this storm; to reiterate what Rubio wrote: Get out ASAP.
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I also ask readers to join me, along with Republican vice presidential candidate, Senator JD Vance (R-OH), who wrote this touching–and on point–message while sharing the Rubio warning:
Say a prayer for our friends in Florida and Georgia who are bracing for what seems to be a very bad storm. And if you know someone in the evacuation areas noted below, please tell them (or help them) get out now!
I believe (but don’t know for sure) that he meant to include any state that could be in its dangerous path, including that of colleague Sister Toldjah (North Carolina).
I’ll leave you all with this “instant classic” clip:
Stay safe, RedStaters!