Emergency alert issued over 'catastrophic' hurricane accelerating towards Florida

An emergency alert has been issued over a 'catastrophic' hurricane accelerating towards Florida. Fast-moving Hurricane Helene was advancing across the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida on Thursday (September 26), threatening a major storm surge in northwestern parts of the US state,

Forecasters predicted tornadoes, damaging winds, rains and flash floods could hit hundreds of miles inland across much of the southeastern US.

Helene strengthened into a major Category 3 hurricane on Thursday as it barrelled across the Gulf of Mexico on a path to Florida, according to the US National Hurricane Centre.

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Tropical storm-force winds have already started hitting the state in advance. Hurricane warnings and flash flood warnings extended far beyond the coast up into south-central Georgia. The governors of Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia have all declared emergencies.

In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis said that models suggest Helene will make landfall further east, lessening the chances for a direct hit on the capital city of Tallahassee, whose metro has a population of around 395,000.

The shift has the storm aimed squarely at the sparsely-populated Big Bend area, where rain began to blow in on Thursday morning along the coastal US Highway 98, which winds through fishing villages and vacation hideaways in the region where Florida’s panhandle and peninsula meet.

Mandatory evacuation orders stretched from the panhandle south along the Gulf Coast in low-lying areas around Tallahassee, Gainesville, Cedar Key, Lake City, Tampa and Sarasota.

The National Weather Service office in Tallahassee forecast storm surges of up to 20 feet (six metres) and warned they