Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey said that if the trajectory of Helene holds, the area will see “unprecedented damage like nothing we have ever experienced before as a community.”

Tallahassee, in the Big Bend area, is inland within the projected path of Helene’s landfall. 

“If the city of Tallahassee is hit directly by a Category 3 hurricane, it’ll be the strongest hurricane in recorded history ever to hit our community. Current forecast continues to position us squarely within the cone of Hurricane Helene,” Dailey said in a news conference.

Locals should plan for a possible direct hit with winds in excess of 100 mph and flooding, he warned, adding that the city could see downed trees, structural damage and loss of power.

“Now is the time to prepare. We have no more time left to wait. Today is the day. We urge you to stay weather aware as we’re on the verge of what could be … a historic event,” Dailey added.

Aid resources from nine states — Missouri, Louisiana, Ohio, North Carolina, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Michigan and Florida — are arriving in the area later today.

“By the sun setting this evening, we will have tripled our electric utility workforce,” he said, adding that when restoration begins, the goal is to increase it five-fold.

Tampa International Airport will suspend all commercial and cargo operations at 2 a.m. Thursday, ahead of Helene's arrival.

The airport will remain closed to the public until damage assessments are completed, but it is anticipated to reopen Friday.  

Three other public airports managed by the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority — Peter O. Knight, Tampa Executive and Plant City Airports — will also close at 2 a.m. Thursday, the airport said in a statement. 

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency today ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Helene. 

In his announcement, Cooper said Helene is forecast to trigger flash flooding, landslides, debris flows and river flooding across portions of the western and central part of the state. Tropical-storm-force winds are possible in the western part of the state late Thursday into Friday. 

“Flooding may occur in areas that do not typically flood. All North Carolinians should be weather aware and prepared,” the statement said.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp also declared a state of emergency yesterday, as the southern part of the state was put under a tropical storm watch.

Helene will pass over unusually warm waters as it charges up from the Caribbean, which forecasters say will likely help the storm build intensity.

Sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico have been as hot as 88 degrees Fahrenheit in parts of the eastern Gulf Coast, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Brian McNoldy, a senior research associate at the University of Miami, posted on X earlier this month that the amount of heat energy stored in the Gulf of Mexico is “obliterating” previous records.

“It’s almost as if this matters...” McNoldy said in a follow-up post this morning.

Warm water acts like fuel for hurricanes, feeding storms energy and heat to gather strength at a rapid pace. Studies have shown that climate change is increasing ocean temperatures, which in turn is making storms stronger and increasing their intensity and destructiveness.

The University of Florida in Gainesville said its campus will close and classes will be cancelled tomorrow due to Helene. The University of Central Florida in Orlando also suspended campus operations and classes tomorrow.

Florida A&M University, Tallahassee State College and Florida State University had already called off classes and closed campuses.

Mara Lezama Espinosa, the governor of Quintana Roo, Mexico, shared videos and photos of severe flooding and damage from Helene as the hurricane passes the Yucatán Peninsula. 

She shared video of high tides at San Miguel Pier in Cozumel and cars submerged in flooded streets. Other posts showed downed trees, workers sweeping debris and intense rain.

“There are streets with fallen trees, power outages, strong gusts of wind and high waves,” she wrote on X. "Let’s take precautions! All emergency teams are in the territory and active on 911."

NASA has delayed an upcoming SpaceX launch as Helene gathers strength and threatens Florida’s east coast.

SpaceX was scheduled to launch NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov tomorrow to the International Space Station. But the space agency opted to stand down, saying “the storm system is large enough that high winds and heavy rain are expected in the Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island regions on Florida’s east coast.”

The Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule, which were out at the launch pad, were also rolled back to a hangar at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Tuesday evening, NASA officials wrote in a blog post.

The upcoming mission, known as Crew-9, will now launch no earlier than Saturday at 1:17 p.m. ET.

Helene has become a hurricane, with 80 mph maximum sustained winds, the National Hurricane Center said in its 11 a.m. advisory.

It’s now about 85 miles north-northeast of Cozumel, Mexico, moving at 10 mph.  

Some outer bands from Helene are already hitting the Florida Keys and Collier, Miami-Dade and Broward counties, Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said in a news conference Wednesday.

“Sixty-four out of 67 counties need to pay attention to their alerts,” he warned as the state braces for what's forecast to become a major hurricane.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said northern Florida will most likely be hit by Helene’s landfall, but impacts will be felt inland as well. 

The governor had declared an emergency for 61 counties in the state. On Wednesday, he said FEMA partially approved the state’s pre-landfall emergency declaration, “but we didn’t get approved for what we think we need to get approved for.” He said the state will ask again for “more robust” approval. 

The governor urged locals to familiarize themselves with their evacuation zones and be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice. The state is bracing for power outages, with 18,000 linemen already in Florida to restore power and more on the way. DeSantis said the National Guard is on standby and Starlink internet will be deployed as needed.