Helene on track to hit Florida as major hurricane; Two killed in Mexico as storm John weakens

Helene on track to hit Florida as major hurricane; Two killed in Mexico as storm John weakens
by AFP Staff Writers
Miami (AFP) Sept 24, 2024

The US state of Florida on Tuesday was preparing for the arrival of Storm Helene, due to make landfall later in the week as a powerful Category 3 hurricane.

Helene, currently churning over the Caribbean with maximum sustained winds of 50 miles (85 kilometers) per hour, is projected to rapidly strengthen through the Gulf of Mexico before slamming into the Florida coast on Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Ron DeSantis, governor of the southeastern state, has expanded a state of emergency to 61 of the state's 67 counties and mobilized the National Guard.

As of Tuesday evening, ten counties along the gulf coast have announced partial evacuation orders.

"There is a significant threat of storm surge, coastal flooding and erosion, heavy rainfall and flash flooding, and damaging winds," an executive order signed by DeSantis on Monday said.

Alongside warnings across Florida, the NHC has issued a hurricane warning for communities along the eastern part of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and a hurricane watch for Cuba's Pinar del Rio province.

If the NHC's forecasts are confirmed, Helene -- with sustained winds of more than 110 miles per hour -- would be the highest-category hurricane to hit the United States in more than a year.

Idalia, a Category 3 storm, hit northwestern Florida in August 2023.

Helene is set to make landfall in the same region as both Idalia and Hurricane Debby, the Category 1 hurricane that hit Florida last month.

The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which began on June 1 and will end on November 30, has been less busy than expected.

Researchers say climate change likely plays a role in the rapid intensification of storms, because there is more energy in a warmer ocean for them to feed on.

Two killed in Mexico as storm John weakens and Helene moves in
Mexico City (AFP) Sept 24, 2024 - At least two people died after Hurricane John slammed into Mexico's southern Pacific coast, but as the now-weakened storm dissipated Tuesday, tropical storm Helene threatened over the Caribbean.

Hurricane John hit the coast as a Category 3 storm overnight with winds of up to 120 miles (193 kilometers) per hour, before being downgraded to a tropical storm and largely dissipating by Tuesday afternoon.

Forecasters nevertheless warned of strong rains and possible flash floods inundating the coast for the next few days.

The passage of John left a woman and a child dead after a landslide hit their home in the mountainous southern town of Tlacoachistlahuaca, Evelyn Salgado, the governor of the Mexican state of Guerrero, told a news conference.

The US-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in an afternoon update that the remnants of the storm were about 70 miles from the resort city of Acapulco, with sustained winds of 35 miles per hour.

The storm caused jitters among residents of Acapulco, where memories are still fresh of Hurricane Otis, a scale-topping Category 5 storm that left a trail of destruction and several dozen people dead in October last year.

Marta Sotelo told AFP her nerves were frayed as winds blew in, in the same way as Otis had, with "raised dust, metal sheets, everything."

"The children became hysterical," she told AFP, adding that she and her relatives preferred to wait out John in a shelter.

-'Flash flooding' -

The southern states of Guerrero and Oaxaca were hardest hit by the storm, and thousands of military and emergency personnel have been deployed.

Some 300 shelters were set up to aid residents in high-risk areas.

The governor, Salgado, said towns in Guerrero had registered heavy rainfall, road closures, power outages and the suspension of classes.

Oaxaca has seen fallen trees in several municipalities and road damage. Airports in the region's resort towns of Huatulco and Puerto Escondido suspended operations.

The NHC had warned that while John has been downgraded, there remained a risk of "significant and possibly catastrophic, life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides" in the southern states of Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero.

Hurricanes hit Mexico every year on both its Pacific and Atlantic coasts, usually between May and November.

On Tuesday, Tropical Storm Helene formed in the Caribbean putting the resorts of Cancun, the Riviera Maya and Tulum on alert.

According to the path predicted by the NHC, Helene is expected to gain hurricane strength at dawn on Wednesday off Cancun, but will not make landfall.

Helene is due to make landfall in the US state of Florida on Thursday as a powerful Category 3 hurricane.