A huge Hurricane Helene is expected to hit Florida as a major storm and strike far inland

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — (AP) — An enormous Hurricane Helene swamped parts of Mexico on Wednesday as it churned on a path forecasters said would take it to Florida as a major storm with a surge that could swallow entire homes, a chilling warning that sent residents scrambling for higher ground, closed schools, and led to states of emergency throughout the Southeast.

The storm's center was about 110 miles (175 kilometers) northeast of Cozumel, Mexico, on Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, and Helene was expected to intensify and grow as it crosses the Gulf of Mexico.

The hurricane ranks in the 90th percentile for its sheer size, and it could create a surge as high as 18 feet (5 1/2 meters) in places, forecasters said. The fast-moving storm’s wind and rain could penetrate far inland, even as it weakens after landfall in Florida late Thursday, authorities warned.

Helene became a hurricane Wednesday morning and was moving at nearly 10 mph (17 kph) with top sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph) later in the afternoon, but it was expected to intensify over the warm, deep waters of the Gulf. Forecasters said it should become a major Category 3 or higher hurricane Thursday with winds above 110 mph (177 kph). Its center is projected to hit Florida's Big Bend area, the curving stretch of Gulf coastline in the state’s north.

In Tallahassee, where stations had started to run out of gas, 19-year-old at Florida A&M student Kameron Benjamin filled sandbags with his roommate to protect their apartment before evacuating. Their school and Florida State shut down.

“This hurricane is heading straight to Tallahassee, so I really don’t know what to expect,” Benjamin said.

As Big Bend residents battened down their homes, many saw the ghost of 2018's Hurricane Michael. That storm rapidly intensified and crashed ashore as a Category 5 that laid waste to Panama City and parts of the rural Panhandle.

“People are taking heed and hightailing it out of there for higher ground,” said Kristin Korinko, a Tallahassee resident who serves as the commodore of the Shell Point Sailboard Club, on the Gulf Coast about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Tallahassee.

But Robbie Berg, a national warning coordinator for the hurricane center, warned: “Please do not compare it to other storms you may have experienced over the past year or two."

Areas 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of the Georgia-Florida line can expect hurricane conditions. Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana could get rainfall. Landslides were possible in southern Appalachia, with catastrophic flooding predicted in the Carolinas and Georgia.

Parts of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula were under hurricane warnings as Helene wound between it and the western tip of Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico. The storm formed Tuesday in the Caribbean, and it flooded streets and toppled trees as it passed offshore and brushed the resort city of Cancun.

In Cuba, authorities moved cattle to higher ground and medical brigades went to communities often cut off by storms. The government preventively shut off power in some communities as waves as high as 16 feet (5 meters) slammed Cortes Bay. In the Cayman Islands, schools remained closed as flood warnings continued and residents pumped water from flooded homes.

Wind-driven waves battered Florida's Key West on Wednesday. Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the upper Keys, southern Florida and the state's northeast coast and were extended northward Wednesday morning to Altamaha Sound, Georgia. A tropical storm watch was in effect for the South Carolina coast north of the South Santee River to Little River Inlet.

Hurricane watches, a step down from warnings, were also in effect for parts of western Cuba and Florida, including the Tampa Bay area, where the airport suspended operation.

President Joe Biden declared an emergency in Florida, and federal authorities positioned generators, food and water, along with search-and-rescue and power restoration teams.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who already issued an emergency for most counties, warned residents Wednesday they needed to heed evacuation orders. A dozen health care facilities including hospitals and nursing homes had evacuated preemptively, DeSantis said.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp also declared an emergency in his state. The hurricane warning area included Albany, population 67,000, and Valdosta, population 55,000. Helene approached barely a year after Hurricane Idalia inflicted more than $6 million in damage on the Valdosta area.

But near Florida's center, outside Orlando, Walt Disney World said its only closures Thursday would be the Typhoon Lagoon water park and its miniature golf courses.

Helene is the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. Since 2000, eight major hurricanes have made landfall in Florida, according to Philip Klotzbach, a Colorado State University hurricane researcher. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year because of record-warm ocean temperatures.

In the Pacific, former Hurricane John re-formed as a tropical storm Wednesday and threatened areas of Mexico's western coast anew. John had hit the country's southern Pacific coast late Monday, killing at least two people, triggering mudslides, and damaging homes and trees. It grew into a Category 3 hurricane in a matter of hours and made landfall east of Acapulco.

It weakened after moving inland but later reemerged over the ocean. On Wednesday, officials issued a hurricane watch for the coast from Acapulco to Zihuatanejo and tropical storm warnings from Punta Maldonado to Lazaro Cardenas. John was about 105 miles (170 kilometers) southwest of Acapulco with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph) and was moving east at 3 mph (5 kph).

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Associated Press journalists Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Andrea Rodríguez in Havana; Marcia Dunn in Cape Canaveral, Florida; Mark Stevenson and María Verza in Mexico City; and Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, contributed to this report. Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas.

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