Helene made landfall around 11:10 pm Thursday, near the mouth of the Aucilla River in the Big Bend area of Florida’s Gulf Coast. It was a Category 4 storm, with maximum sustained winds estimated at 140 mph. That location was only about 20 miles northwest of where Hurricane Idalia came ashore last year at nearly the same ferocity and caused widespread damage.
As of 5am Tropical Storm Helene is about 40 miles east of Macon Georgian. Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 70 mph with higher gusts. Continued weakening is expected, and Helene is expected to become a post-tropical low this afternoon or tonight. However, the fast forward speed will allow strong, damaging winds, especially in gusts, to penetrate well inland across the southeastern United States, including over the higher terrain of the southern Appalachians.
For central Indiana and west-central Ohio the impact will be anywhere from nearly one…to two inches of rain today, and winds this afternoon gusting to 60 mph south of I-70.
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