Topline

Hurricane Helene made landfall late Thursday as a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour – the strongest storm ever to hit Florida’s Big Bend region – before barreling toward neighboring Georgia early Friday as the Authorities warned of life-threatening winds. heavy rains and catastrophic storm surges.

Important facts

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News Peg

According to the tracker PowerOutage.US, the hurricane knocked out power to more than 2 million homes and businesses in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Hardest hit is Florida, where more than 1,250,000 customers are affected by power outages, most of them in the Big Bend. More than 670,000 people are without power in Georgia, followed by about 218,000 in South Carolina and nearly 62,000 in North Carolina.

What is a Category 4 storm?

According to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, a storm is considered a Category 4 hurricane if it has maximum sustained winds between 130 and 156 miles per hour. According to the NHC, a Category 4 storm can cause “catastrophic damage” and even cause well-built frame homes to lose most of their roof structure and some exterior walls. A Category 4 can uproot most trees and damage most utility poles – causing outages that could last several weeks.

Further reading

Hurricane Helene makes landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm – what you need to know (Forbes)