Just ahead of Hurricane Helene's landfall, AccuWeather's Ali Reid reported live from Tallahassee, Florida, as wind gusts picked up strength across the region.
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00:00We want to hear from Allie Reed right now. She is joining us live from Tallahassee, the capital city.
00:05Allie, I know that things were really escalating when we last checked in with you,
00:08but it's been an hour. So how are things looking right now?
00:14Right, Jeff, Bernie, we've been talking as it gets closer to
00:18a Helene-making landfall. It's going to start getting worse here in the Tallahassee area.
00:23That is exactly what we've seen over the last couple of hours. It's been a steady
00:27change of pace here, right? It was rather quiet earlier, not a lot of wind or rain.
00:32That is certainly starting to pick up now. And those wind gusts, wow,
00:38those wind gusts can be very intense at times as they work their way through this area. Now,
00:43we decided to come back to this location. We're right outside of the downtown area in Tallahassee
00:47because there is a retention pond directly next to me. We're at Cascades Park. The interesting
00:52thing about this area here is the fact that many, many years ago, because city officials said this
00:58is an area that is very, a ton of flooding that this area gets, especially in low-lying areas
01:04like where we're in right now, that retention pond was a great way to really help this city
01:09out so that they don't see as much flooding. Now, the positive is, is my photographer,
01:13Andy, have been roving throughout the area. There's not a ton of flooding just yet
01:17here in this area. That could potentially change later on, especially as Helene makes
01:23its way closer to the Tallahassee area. But it's the wind that is the major factor right now that
01:29is certainly starting to pick up here in this area. It is very intense at times. We can hear
01:35the wind tunnels moving throughout the buildings here in the city. And within the last few minutes
01:40as well, we saw a power flash as well. We know that there are many people without power. At last
01:47check, across the entire state of Florida, 630,000 people are without power right now.
01:55We know that there are many people even in Tallahassee that that has already started
01:59to be a factor for, again, mobile homes, manufactured homes. We've been mentioning
02:03that those areas are at great risk with the winds that we're going to be seeing because of Helene.
02:11I just want to pause for one second. This wind.
02:13Yeah.
02:14Take that in.
02:15Yeah.
02:17That's a scary, scary sound to hear, Bernie.
02:20Yeah. And you know, Allie, I was just looking at the radar here. So you're going to get
02:23that western eyewall is going to miss you, thankfully, to the east by about five,
02:29to the east by about five miles. But your worst conditions are yet to come. Here we are at 1103
02:35Eastern by midnight. I think your wind gusts are going to be stopping here at over 80 miles per
02:40hour. So things will be getting far worse here in the next couple of hours in Tallahassee.
02:45Allie Reed reporting for us. Allie, batten down the hatches, get yourself safe,
02:49because you're going to feel the full fury of Hurricane Helene here coming up within about an
02:54hour. And a few miles could make a big difference. I remember Francine Baton Rouge was barely west
02:59of the western part of the eyewall and across the city, a huge scope there with many different
03:04impacts. With this one, again, the worst of the eyewall, barely east of Tallahassee,
03:08but you're going to face still a fierce storm, as Bernie said, but just maybe 15,
03:1220 miles east of there. Perry, Florida, soon to step into the eye, Bernie.
03:16Yeah, right into the eye. I want to look at this because I believe
03:19we are very close to official landfall here.