Florida and Georgia - Helene: Devastation in Florida, SE

We're waking up to reports of flood emergencies, catastrophic damage, and millions of power outages after Major Hurricane Helene made landfall near Perry, Fla., around 11:00 p.m. ET.

Helene made landfall as a strong Category 4 Hurricane in Florida's Big Bend Thursday night with sustained winds of 140 mph and higher gusts, but was causing devastating impacts all day Thursday leading up to landfall. Up to 20 feet of storm surge was forecast for the Big Bend. And we expect reports of the surge to come in today. Helene is not done.

Taylor County Sheriff's Department, the county of Helene's landfall, pleaded with anyone who chose not to evacuate - even under mandatory evacuation orders - to write their information on their arm with permanent marker to be identified in the worst case scenarios.

Helene quickly made its way into southern Georgia and maintained hurricane status through 5 a.m. ET Friday. Athens, Ga., recorded a record low pressure of 973.3 mb, beating the previous record of 977.5 mb from the March 1993 Superstorm. Additionally, Atlanta, Ga., is experiencing its first-ever flash flood emergency due to an onslaught of heavy rainfall from Helene.

Helene's large wind field of more than 200 miles from the center sent tropical-storm-strength winds across the entirety of the Florida peninsula beginning on Wednesday and lasting all day Thursday. It is the 4th landfalling hurricane in the Gulf Coast of 2024 and had the lowest minimum pressure of 938 mb since Hurricane Michael in 2018 (919 mb), which made landfall just 110 miles away in Mexico Beach, Fla.

Not to be outdone, Helene's heavy tropical rains will be part of a likely historical event in the southern Appalachians today as up to 20 inches of rain, and even more in isolated spots, will pile up.