NEW: Helene becomes Cat 2 hurricane, FAU and Palm Beach County schools closed
Editor's Note: This is a developing story and will be frequently updated as new information becomes available.
Hurricane Helene, a Goliath of a storm, ploughed through the Gulf of Mexico early Thursday, gorging and growing and pushing up to 20 feet of storm surge toward Florida's sandy underbelly where a landfall is forecast for late Thursday or early Friday.
At 11 a.m. the Category 2 storm was 290 miles south of miles south of Apalachicola, and 255 miles southwest of Tampa. It had 105 mph sustained winds and had picked up speed slightly to 14 mph.
As forecast, its hurricane force-winds spread a yawning 60 miles from its center. Tropical storm-force winds spin out an incredible 345 miles — more than twice the width of Florida's Peninsula at its widest point.
More: Palm Beach County is under a tropical storm warning, here's what you should expect.
Helene is strengthening and forecast to reach major Category 3 status with 120 mph winds and continuing to intensify until it makes landfall. National Hurricane Center experts noted in their 11 a.m. forecast that some models have Helene strengthening to a Category 4 hurricane.
The storm is expected to reach the Panhandle between Franklin and Carrabelle, putting Tallahassee almost directly in the center of cone of uncertainty.
"It's been some double whammies for lots of people here," said Capt. Brent Woodard, who runs Reel Native Fishing Charters out of Cedar Key where up to 15 feet of storm surge is forecast. "This one seems to be pretty bad but it ain't the first one and it won't be the last. We are just going to keep rolling with them."
Woodard lives about 30 miles inland from the coast and didn’t evacuate. He said everyone he knows along the coast has left, but he is concerned about his business on the lip of Waccasassa Bay.
“I make a living on the water. It usually takes two to three weeks after a tropical storm to bounce back, for people to start calling you again and making money," Woodard said. "This one, it could take months."
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is so concerned about Helene's size, it sent out a rare note late Wednesday urging people to focus on the impacts of the massive tropical cyclone and not the track cone. Drowning storm surge at the coast, destructive winds as far north as Georgia and the Carolinas and more than a foot of rainfall in some areas of Florida's Panhandle and into the Appalachians is forecast.
img src=https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/KAMX_loop.gif width="100%"
Major flooding is possible in urban areas around Tallahassee, metro Atlanta and western North Carolina, including Asheville, the NOAA statement said. Flash floods and landslides are possible in the mountainous terrain of the southern Appalachians.
"Helene remains in an atmospheric and oceanic environment over the eastern Gulf of Mexico that is very conducive for strengthening with the system forecast to traverse the loop current while it remains in a moist and and low-shear environment," said National Hurricane Center specialist Jack Bevan in an early Thursday forecast. "A catastrophic and deadly storm surge is likely along portions of the Florida Big Bend coast."
Palm Beach County remained under a tropical storm warning Thursday with damaging gusts and squalls and potential flooding possible. Rainfall amounts are forecast through Saturday morning to be 1 to 2 inches with localized amounts as high as 5 inches. A high surf advisory and flood watch are also in effect for all of southeast Florida.
Coastal areas from Miami to West Palm Beach have a 10% to 20% chance of getting sustained tropical storm force winds.
A tornado watch is also in effect for all of South Florida until 8 p.m. Thursday.
What's open and closed in Palm Beach County?
Palm Beach County School District schools and administrative offices are closed Thursday. Extracurricular activities are also canceled.
Florida Atlantic University canceled Thursday classes. The Norton Museum of Art is closed Thursday.
Palm Tran operations might be affected throughout the day. For real time bus arrival information, go to www.Palmtran.org.
All Palm Beach County beaches and beach parks will be closed to include the Juno Beach Pier.
More: Palm Beach County is under a tropical storm warning, here's what you should expect.
Early Thursday, winds were already gusting to 32 mph at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach with sustained winds measured near 5 a.m. at 23 mph.
Wind gusts of 44 mph and 46 mph were measured near 9:30 a.m. near Delray Beach and Lake Worth beach, respectively.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport reported wind gusts of 64 mph early Thursday with sustained winds as high as 36 mph.
In Steinhatchee, the usually bustling Sea Hag Marina area in Florida's Big Bend area was mostly deserted as people prepared for Hurricane Helene. That is, except for half a dozen cats roaming around and Bobbi Patterson, 85, moving anything that could get soaked — rugs, chairs, a sofa — from her riverfront home to another one she owns across the street.
Patterson was up at 6 a.m. to finish the job she started yesterday, with plans to evacuate to a motel in Gainesville. Her daughter, Susan Merritt, 63, of Knoxville, Tennessee, was helping.
About 18 counties from Gulf County in the Panhandle to Charlotte County along the southwest coast had evacuation orders as of early Thursday, according to Floridadisaster.org.
"It's pretty much stripped," Patterson said of the sea-green house with a porch that overlooks the river.
In the 40 years Patterson has owned her riverfront bungalow, it's flooded twice. She said the media tends to overhype storms, but she's taking this one seriously.
"They say it's going to be a storm surge, 10, 16, maybe 20 feet," said Patterson, who divides her time between the Big Bend area and Virginia. "We're not used to the term."
Elsewhere in the Atlantic basin, Tropical Storm Isaac formed about 755 miles east-northeast of Bermuda with 50 mph winds. The storm is moving east at 12 mph and is forecast to become a Category 1 hurricane. It is no threat to the U.S.
Kimberly Miller is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate, weather, and the environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism, subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Hurricane Helene updates: FAU, Palm Beach County schools closed
