AccuWeather's Jon Porter warns of Hurricane Helene's severe winds, storm surge and catastrophic flooding in the southeastern U.S., urging residents to prepare.
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00:00For the latest on Hurricane Helene, let's go to Accuweather Chief Meteorologist John Porter.
00:05You know, John, you and I have actually sounded the alarm on this storm on September 13th
00:10that we would have to take a look or watch that area in the northwest Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.
00:15We saw the pattern. Then the following Monday, so we're talking last Monday,
00:20before the storm even formed, we said high risk of development.
00:25And then we were looking for a possible landfall as a hurricane,
00:28while other sources were going with a low risk for development between Louisiana and Florida.
00:36Fast forward, and let's take a look at major hurricane Helene.
00:42Yeah, that's right, Bernie. We do that so that we can provide the most advanced notice
00:46and the best information so all of our viewers can stay safer and make the best decisions for their families.
00:52That's why we're so passionate about doing that here at Accuweather.
00:56This is an intensifying hurricane, Bernie, as it nears just hours away from making landfall
01:01in the Big Bend region of Florida, as you described, with maximum sustained winds right now of 120 mph.
01:07It is going to provide multiple risks, damaging winds, a catastrophic storm surge,
01:13and also very concerning catastrophic flooding inland.
01:17You know, you're looking live right now at Fort Myers Beach, and because of the size,
01:22when you look at this, you know, I'm going to measure this out, John.
01:25So I'm just going to measure it. Fort Myers Beach is well to the east of where we have the center of circulation.
01:32I'm just going to measure it out. So it's about 170 miles, 180 miles.
01:36But see, it's the size. Size does matter when it comes to hurricanes.
01:41I want to show you, and let's compare it, contrast it, with Beryl, the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic season.
01:49It made landfalls of Category 1 along the upper Texas coast in early July.
01:52But note the difference. To me, it looks like Helene's doubled the size, John.
01:57Yeah, it does look that way, and that's what we've been talking about all along.
02:00It's always been, Helene, a broad storm.
02:03But now that it's interacting with this other storm in the Mississippi Valley,
02:07that is going to broaden out the impacts even more.
02:10So that's why we're talking about so much of the southeastern U.S. at risk for life-threatening impacts in the coming days.
02:17We've made an adjustment, John. It's very minor, but minor changes do matter
02:22when we're talking about where we're going to get that devastating landfall.
02:25So we're looking for landfall now in Appalachia Bay, just east of Apalachicola.
02:31And, in fact, we have a point for you, St. Mark's here, that's going to be the actual landfall location.
02:38Yes, and this matters probably a bit more than typical because of the fact that
02:44if it were to make landfall a little bit further to the east, that might reduce the impacts in Tallahassee.
02:50But the way it looks right now is that with a landfall near St. Mark's,
02:54that's going to be close enough to spread the core of the storm up into the Tallahassee area,
02:59which, of course, is a populated place in north Florida with wind gusts of 100 to 120 miles per hour.
03:06That's enough to take down all kinds of power lines and create significant structural damage,
03:11as well as a risk for 8 to 12 inches of rain.
03:14So the flash flooding risk and conditions are going to be going downhill fast here
03:18as we head through the next couple of hours.
03:20And an important point, these impacts are bad enough if they were happening during the day,
03:24but at night you can't see what's happening around you as well.
03:28You have less situational awareness.
03:30It is going to be a scary night.
03:32You're going to want to be in an interior part of your home away from windows in the Tallahassee area
03:37in a well-built structure.
03:39John, we have another problem.
03:41This is our rainfall the last 48 hours.
03:43I've already seen rain amounts here, by the way, in the North Carolina mountains over a foot.
03:48So preceding Hellene, we've already seen in that yellow and red 5, 6, 7, 8 inches of rain, John.
03:57And what we are forecasting here in the mountains of North Carolina
04:02cannot be underestimated when we use the word catastrophic.
04:06It cannot.
04:07We do not use that word often here at AccuWeather.
04:09This is a historic flooding disaster on the way from Bluefield, West Virginia,
04:16through the mountains of North Carolina, Boone, Asheville,
04:20all the way down to Jasper and Clayton across northeastern Georgia.
04:25And also parts of far eastern Tennessee like Gatlinburg in the terrain.
04:30Steep terrain, that runoff from the excessive rainfall is going to be amplified.
04:35We're talking about bridges and roads washed away.
04:38We're talking about the risk for catastrophic damage in these areas.
04:42And even if you've lived in these communities for decades,
04:45people may be surprised at just how much water is flowing and where it is occurring.
04:51So don't think just because if you live away from a river, a creek, or a stream
04:55and you haven't experienced flooding before that you're safe from this storm.
04:59Please move to higher ground and have a plan to get there if flash flood warnings are issued.
05:04This may be a very, very dangerous event.
05:08You know, words are important, but also visuals are important as well.
05:12You and I looked at this forecast, and this is located south, just south of Asheville, North Carolina.
05:19I want to show you the water levels here. In fact, we can't even keep it on the graph here.
05:23The record is 20.3. Record, John, level at the French Broad River.
05:29This may be a recent gauge, but still, we're looking at over 10 feet above record.
05:35That's what's being projected.
05:37And that puts it 10 feet above the record. Put that into context for a minute.
05:41That is why we are so concerned about the flash flooding that can occur in these communities
05:46and why water can rise so quickly, and you can go from a situation that's dangerous
05:51to one that's truly a life-threatening emergency in a matter of minutes.
05:56So, very dangerous.
05:58AccuWeather chief meteorologist Jonathan Porter.
06:00John, thanks for breaking it down with us here on AccuWeather Ahead.