Helene is now a tropical storm as it moves inland over Georgia; more than 2 million people without electricity

Hurricane Helene was dangerous Category 4 storm when it made landfall Big Bend region of Florida late Thursday night, but quickly weakened as it moved inland early Friday and was downgraded to a tropical storm within just a few hours, the National Hurricane Center said. Still, Helene brought “life-threatening” storm surge, high winds and heavy rain, the center said.

As of 5 a.m. EDT, Helen was about 40 miles east of Macon, Ga., and 100 miles southeast of Atlanta and racing north at 30 mph, the hurricane center said based in Miami. There were maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, 4 mph below the threshold for a storm to have hurricane status and half of what they were when Helene made landfall over the Big Bend region , on the Gulf Coast of Florida.

Helene made landfall about 10 miles west of Perry, Fla., at 11:10 p.m. Eastern Time, according to the hurricane center, with maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour.

By 2 a.m. EDT, its winds had already decreased to 90 mph, making Helene a Category 1 hurricane at the time, the center said.

According to utility tracking site PowerOutage.us, some 1.2 million customers in Florida were without power as of early Friday morning, along with about 734,000 in Georgia and 363,000 in South Carolina. These numbers were growing rapidly. Additionally, about 87,000 homes and businesses were in the dark in North Carolina, for a total of nearly 2.4 million across the four states.

So far, at least three weather-related deaths have been attributed to Hélène. Two people were killed in Wheeler County, Georgia, county coroner Ted Mercer told CBS New by phone. No further details were provided.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis confirmed during a late-night news conference that at least one person was killed in the Tampa area when a road sign fell on a vehicle.

DeSantis said about 3,500 National Guardsmen were ready to respond to emergencies.

Several airports closed because of the storm, and airlines canceled nearly 1,300 flights Thursday, according to FlightAware. More than 600 American flights already canceled at 5:30 a.m.

The outlook

“A northward turn is expected overnight, taking center stage over central and northern Georgia this morning,” the hurricane center said. “After that, Helen is expected to turn northwest and slow down over the Tennessee Valley later today and Saturday.

“Continued weakening is expected, but the rapid forward rate will allow strong and damaging winds, particularly gusty winds, to penetrate well inland across the southeastern United States, including overland highest in the southern Appalachians.”

The center said: “Tropical storm conditions are occurring from southern Florida to southeast Georgia, and these conditions will continue to spread northward through the tropical storm warning areas in the southeast. is the United States until today. Strong, damaging winds, especially gusty winds, will likely penetrate as far inland as the higher terrain of the southern Appalachians.

The center said that “over parts of the southeastern United States to the southern Appalachians, Helen is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 6 to 12 inches, with isolated totals of around 20 inches.” This precipitation will likely cause catastrophic and potentially fatal consequences. Flash and urban flooding, as well as significant river flooding are expected in steep terrain in the southern Appalachians.

Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan previously described the expected storm surge along Florida’s northwest coast as “a truly insurmountable scenario” that “can destroy homes, displace cars , and the water level will rise very quickly… and could reduce outside the emergency exits. »

CBS News senior weather and climate producer David Parkinson described Helen as a “gargantuan” storm.

Its hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 30 miles from its center early Friday and tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 310 miles, mostly east of the center of ‘Helen,’ the hurricane center said.

NASA shared video of the hurricane as seen from the International Space Station, showing the size of the storm as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday afternoon.

The International Space Station flew past Hurricane Helen at 2:25 p.m. EDT on Thursday, September 26, 2024, as it approached the Gulf Coast of Florida, with winds of more than 120 miles per hour. pic.twitter.com/J1iU0Iztpx

– International Space Station (@Space_Station) September 26, 2024

In Florida’s Big Bend region, from Carrabelle to the Suwannee River, forecasters expected water to reach 15 to 20 feet above ground if the storm surgeThe peak occurred at the same time as high tide. Other areas could see between 3 and 15 feet of water, the hurricane center warned. Fifteen to twenty feet of water would be enough to cover a two-story house, Parkinson noted.

“The water impacts will probably be the most impactful part of the storm, the deadliest part of the storm,” Jamie Rhome, deputy director of the hurricane center, told CBS News.

President Biden and DeSantis declared a state of emergency in the state earlier in the week, and evacuation orders have been issued in several counties. At the University of Tampa, officials were trying to evacuate all residential students Wednesday afternoon.

A state of emergency was also declared in Georgia, North and South Carolina, as well as Virginia to the north.

Exceptionally warm Gulf water fuels hurricanes

The Gulf’s record waters almost certainly acted like jet fuel in intensifying the storm. Brian McNoldy, a senior research associate at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science at the University of Miami, recently noted that heat content of the oceans in the Gulf of Mexico is the highest on record. Lukewarm water is a necessary ingredient to strengthen tropical systems.

It’s quite astonishing: the average heat content of the oceans in the Gulf of Mexico erases previous historical records. This is 126% of the day’s average. pic.twitter.com/rciwFvJ8Zx

–Brian McNoldy (@BMcNoldy) September 4, 2024

Sea surface temperatures on Helen’s path were as warm as 89 degrees Fahrenheit, 2 to 4 degrees above normal.

These record water temperatures were made much more likely by human-caused climate change, according to Climate Central. The North Atlantic Ocean as a whole saw record high temperatures in 2024, storing 90% of the excess heat from climate change produced by greenhouse gas pollution.

Live radar map of Hurricane Helene

CBS Miami’s live radar map shows the current location and rainfall impacts of Hurricane Helene.

Manuel Bojorquez, Aimee Picchi and Dave Malkoff contributed to this report.