Hurricane Helene forces evacuations and disrupts Florida flights

Communities need to prepare for catastrophic, life-threatening inland flooding from Helene, even well after landfall - warns the American National Hurricane Center. Florida is anxiously watching Hurricane Helene, which has already forced thousands of state residents to evacuate. More than 600 flights to airports in Florida also had to be cancelled.

Weather forecasts indicate Helene may pass west of Tallahassee as a Category 4 hurricane, with wind speeds ranging from 210 to 250 km/h. If the estimates are accurate, this will be the strongest hurricane within a radius of about 50 kilometres from Tallahassee since the late 19th century.

The governors of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia have declared a state of emergency. The US Weather Service in Tallahassee called the threat posed by the storm surge in Apalachee Bay "catastrophic and potentially unsurvivable."

The hurricane’s wind field could be big enough to stretch from Washington, DC, to Indianapolis. That means more storm surge and more widespread impacts, even with the center of the storm well away from the coast – emphasizes CNN.

Residents of Florida are already feeling the effects of Helene. Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate, and nearly the entire state is under warnings due to the threat of torrential rains, destructive winds, and life-threatening storm surges.

James Stallings, the Director of Emergency Management and Homeland Security of Georgia, acknowledged on Wednesday the threat of power outages due to Helene as something "probably unlike anything we've seen before." Trees may topple under strong winds, causing major power outages.

Disruptions are already being felt in air traffic. On Thursday, more than 600 flights were cancelled, most of them from Tampa International Airport. Delays could also affect flights from Fort Myers, Clearwater, Sarasota, and Tallahassee.