Watch Hurricane Helene live cameras as storm approaches Florida

Hurricane Helene continues to rapidly strengthen over the eastern Gulf of Mexico ahead of its expected Thursday arrival in Florida as a devastating, Category 4 storm.

The system reached hurricane status Wednesday with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, which are expected to intensify into driving winds of 120-125 mph upon landfall, according to the National Hurricane Center.

AccuWeather forecasters said landfall will most likely reach the eastern part Florida Panhandle late Thursday and possibly the Big Bend area, the curve of Florida's peninsula around the Gulf of Mexico. Around 8-12 inches of rain is expected where Helene makes landfall with some isolated areas possibly facing 2 feet of rain.

The storm was staying over open water away from Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula Wednesday where its eye could come together unimpeded, according to Andy Hazelton, an associate scientist at the University of Miami’s Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies and NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanic Meteorological Laboratory.

"The stage is being set such that the higher-end intensity outcomes are possible depending on structure,'' Hazelton wrote on X.

Hurricane and tropical storm warnings are in place for over 42 million people in Florida, Georgia and Alabama, according to the National Weather Service.

Watch USA TODAY's coverage of Hurricane Helene

View from St. George Island, Florida

View from Pelican Beach Resort Destin, Florida

View from Perdido Key, Florida

Contributing: John Bacon, Cheryl McCloud, Jeff Burlew, Christopher Cann, Dinah Voyles Pulver and Jorge L. Ortiz

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Helene live cameras show powerful storm approaching Florida