Helene churns toward Florida, will rapidly intensify over next 24 hours – 09/25/24 8 p.m. update

As of 8 p.m. Wednesday, Helene is producing sustained winds of 85 mph and is forecast to become a major hurricane by Thursday morning.

For now, the storm’s forward motion is to the north at 12 mph.

Ahead of the storm’s arrival in the Gulf of Mexico, several Southwest Florida counties declared a local state of emergency on Tuesday due to Hurricane Helene.

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