Hurricane Helene reaches Florida: How does it compare to Ian and Idalia? | WE

Hurricane Helene It made landfall in Florida just after 23:00 (local time) as a Category 4 storm. Helene continues to produce “catastrophic winds” after rapidly strengthening from tropical storm to hurricane on Wednesday, it warned US National Hurricane CenterR.He described the situation as “extremely dangerous and life-threatening”.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declares emergency FloridaJust like the governor of Georgia and South Carolina did. US President Joe Biden warned Americans to take Hurricane Helene “extremely seriously.” He issued two emergency declarations for the states of Alabama and South Carolina on Thursday. Authorities asked citizens to stay in their homes or stay in established shelters.

So far, one death has been reported in Tampa after a highway sign crashed into a car, and two more people have died in Georgia due to the impact of the tornado. Both incidents occurred before Helene reached the coast of Florida.

Florida is hurricane country, but even though hurricane season hits the southeast of the country every year, the winds and storm surges never fail to be frightening and destructive. Comparisons are often used to understand the magnitude of the disaster. And there is a long history to draw from.

In response to the threat of Helene, meteorologists went back more than a century, citing historic flooding in Asheville, North Carolina, in 1916, and devastation caused by Hurricane Hugo in Charlotte, NC, in 1989; Given Helene’s serious impact potential, relevant comparisons are inland areas. But there’s no need to go back that far, more recent hurricanes are still fresh in people’s minds: Hurricane Ian in 2022 and Hurricane Idalia in 2023.

These two hurricanes followed relatively similar paths to Helene, moving from the Caribbean to the Gulf of Mexico, where they strengthened over warming waters and reached Florida. Ian was there at the time. Third costliest air disaster It caused an estimated $113 billion in damage and killed 161 people, according to U.S. records; this was the highest death toll since the 1935 Labor Day tornado. Starting off the coast of West Africa, Ian crossed the tropical Atlantic and passed Trinidad into the Caribbean. tobago A few days later, a Category 3 hurricane hit Cuba. severe flooding and power outages nationwide.

Although Ian lost some strength after passing the island, it quickly regained strength over Gulf of Mexico waters, reaching Category 5 strength with sustained winds of 160 mph before making landfall in southwestern Florida. Considering this strength, Ian became the fifth strongest hurricane to reach the continental United States, tying several other storms. After moving inland, it quickly weakened into a tropical storm before moving back into the Atlantic. There, it strengthened again into a hurricane before reaching South Carolina.

Idalia, on the other hand, had a path much more similar to Helene’s. It formed near the Yucatán coast as a tropical storm before entering the Gulf of Mexico. rapidly intensifiedIt became a Category 4 hurricane before hitting Florida’s Big Bend region — exactly where Helene made landfall Thursday night. As it moved north, Idalia remained a hurricane until it crossed the Georgia border, as Helene was expected to do, and eventually strengthened into a tropical storm. entered the Carolinas.

Idalia caused serious damage to thousands of homes, businesses and other infrastructure as it moved inland, especially Florida, which was hardest hit by winds and floods. Storm surge was record-breaking from the Big Bend region south to Tampa Bay. Roads in Tampa Bay were flooded and hundreds of cars were submerged. The system also triggered a tornado outbreak, with approximately 12 tornadoes confirmed in states north of Florida.

This year’s Caribbean hurricane season was unusual. In June, Beryl becomes earliest Category 5 storm For the record, August and September were unusually quiet, despite Francine hitting the Louisiana coast. But now Helene is one of the largest storms ever recorded, with a diameter of 420 miles (675 km). This is different from strength, which is measured by the intensity of the winds at the epicenter.

Weather experts noted that the water in the Gulf of Mexico was unusually warm. Simply put, warmer water evaporates more easily, and the clouds of warm, moist air resulting from this evaporation are what trigger hurricanes and rapidly intensify.

Helene threatens homes and lives along a triangle across the southern United States from Florida south to north along the South Carolina coast to eastern Arkansas. Hurricane-force winds are expected for the Atlanta area, the sixth most populous metropolitan area in the country, tornadoes are expected for the border region of the Carolinas, and historic flooding is expected for nearly all of the southeastern states, especially along the triple border. Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina.

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