NBC News’ Jesse Kirsch dodged extremely strong wind gusts as the eye wall of Hurricane Helene barreled through Perry, Florida, ahead of landfall.

The storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane about 10 miles from Perry.

A storm surge of over 8 feet was measured in Cedar Key, a Florida island city on the Gulf Coast around 70 miles down the coast from Perry near where the storm made landfall, forecasters said.

“A National Ocean Service tide gauge at Cedar Key is reporting a water level 8.68 feet above mean higher high water, which is an approximation of inundation in that area,” the National Hurricane Center said at midnight.

The Perry-Foley Airport recorded a wind gust of 99 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.

At 12 a.m. ET Friday the eye wall of Hurricane Helene was moving rapidly inland, about 50 minutes after the storm made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region, forecasters said.

The storm had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph, which is the same as when it made landfall in Florida, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory.

Hurricane force winds were felt up to 60 miles away and tropical storm force winds outward of up to 310 miles.

“Helene continues to produce catastrophic winds that are pushing further inland over the Florida Big Bend and Florida Panhandle and will soon be entering southeastern Georgia,” it said.

“This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation. Persons should not leave their shelters and remain in place through the passage of these life-threatening conditions.”

The center of the storm was around 45 miles east-southeast of Tallahassee. The storm was moving north-northeast at around 24 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.

Video shared to social media showed Tampa General Hospital's AquaFence doing exactly what it is supposed to do: keeping water from entering the walls of the region's only Level I trauma center.

"As #HurricaneHelene continues, the AquaFence at TGH stands firm," the hospital wrote on X.

The hospital said the "water-impermeable barrier" is made to withstand storm surges up to 15 feet. Storm surges could reach up to 20 feet in some Florida areas as Helene passes through.

The AquaFence "has worked through multiple rain events to prevent storm waters from impacting hospital operations," Tampa General said.

The "water-tight barrier" is meant to "protect vulnerable areas of the hospital," the hospital said on Facebook this week.

There were 1,036,553 homes and businesses without power in Florida late tonight, according to tracking website PowerOutage.us, after Hurricane Helene thrashed the state and then made landfall.

Power outages had been increasing, especially along the Gulf Coast, as the massive storm moved north in the Gulf of Mexico before it made landfall in the Big Bend region around 11:10 p.m.

Some of the hardest-hit areas are in the Big Bend region by proportion of customers without power, the website shows.

Two people in Wheeler County, Georgia, are dead after an apparent tornado touched down in the area tonight, according to county coroner Ted Mercer.

Mercer said a suspected tornado overturned a mobile home in the county.

An investigation is underway. No further information was available.

The National Weather Service reported a tornado in Jordan, Georgia, at 8:57 p.m. ET. It reported two injuries in the storm; it was unclear whether those injuries were the same as the deaths Mercer reported.

Wheeler County is about 340 miles north of Florida's Big Bend region, which is where Helene made landfall at around 11:10 p.m. ET.

The southern Georgia cities of Valdosta, Thomasville and Quitman were issued an “extreme wind warning” late tonight because of fast-moving Hurricane Helene.

The warnings are in effect until 2 a.m. the National Weather Service in Tallahassee said.

The warnings should be treated like tornado warnings, the weather service says. "Move immediately to an interior room or shelter NOW!" it warned.

Floridians will wake up tomorrow to damage from Hurricane Helene and a situation in which “very likely there’s been additional loss of life,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said.

Hurricane Helene made landfall at around 11:10 p.m. in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane.

“You’re going to have people who are going to lose their homes because of this storm,” DeSantis said.

Earlier tonight a sign fell onto a car on a highway, killing one person, officials said. DeSantis said late tonight that was the only known death in the state related to the storm.

“A storm of this magnitude, it leaves a lot of damage in its wake,” he said.

St. Petersburg said it has turned off power at the city's Northeast Sewer Treatment Plant to protect it from storm surge.

Residents and businesses north of 30th Avenue North and east of Interstate 275/Haines Road are affected.

Those within the affected area should not drain water, take showers, do laundry or flush toilets, as doing so will cause sewage to back up into buildings, the city said.

St. Petersburg said it does not expect any storm surge impacts to other facilities.

"It will take at least a minimum of 48 hours to resume plant operations after it’s turned off," the city said. "City staff will need to carefully inspect the plant to be sure it can be safely restarted and make any repairs if necessary before resuming operations."