Baku, September 27, AZERTAC

Hurricane Helene made landfall along the Florida coast on Thursday night as a powerful and potentially disastrous category 4 storm, bringing chaos to a wide swathe of the Gulf coast and threatening high winds, storm surges and drenching rainfall, according to the Guardian.

Helene was located about 70km east-southeast of Tallahassee, Florida, with maximum sustained winds of 225 kph, the Miami-based UA National Hurricane Center said late on Thursday.

The huge storm formed rapidly this week and strengthened as it careened across the warm waters of the Gulf gathering speed.

Helene’s storm surge – the wall of seawater pushed on land by hurricane-force winds – could rise to as much as 20ft (6.1 meters) in some spots.

“This is not a survivable event for those in coastal or low-lying areas,” said Jared Miller, the sheriff of Wakulla county on the Florida coast. “Please heed the evacuation orders in place as time is running out to do so.”

States of emergency have been declared in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia and Alabama.

Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis had urged north Florida residents to flee before time runs out, warning of flooding, road closures and power outages. Though the storm is expected to weaken once it makes landfall, it is moving fast and could continue to spread.