"Catastrophic" Hurricane Helene lashes Georgia after Florida landfall

• There's been at least one storm-related death in the state and two others in Georgia since the strongest storm ever recorded in the Big Bend coast struck.

Threat level: The huge storm was forecast to bring an unprecedented 15- to 20-foot storm surge to Florida's Big Bend area and high winds to all of the state, as the storm plowed inland with hurricane-force wind gusts hitting north Georgia. Hurricane warnings were in effect for parts of metro Atlanta.

• The National Weather Service called the maximum storm surge forecast for the Big Bend region "catastrophic and unsurvivable." The surge has already begun along the west coast of the state.
• Flooding rains were affecting the southern Appalachians, with rainfall totals around 15 inches expected in western North Carolina. Such rainfall amounts will cause landslides and historic flooding.
• Tampa Bay was forecast to see one of its most severe storm surge events on record, with up to 8 feet of surge.

The Atlanta metro area faced one of its most significant encounters with a hurricane or tropical storm on record, with hurricane-force wind gusts anticipated.

• These winds could lead to widespread tree damage.

State of play: The hurricane rapidly strengthened into a Category 4 storm over the Gulf of Mexico's record-warm waters Thursday and continued to gain intensity ahead of landfall Thursday night to the south-southeast of Tallahassee.

• The eye of the storm made landfall just east of the mouth of the Aucilla River, about 11:10pm, per the National Hurricane Center. Maximum sustained winds were estimated to be at 140 mph.
• The National Hurricane Center noted the storm size was at the "upper bound" of all storm sizes observed in the Gulf of Mexico.
• The storm's center was located about 30 miles north of Valdosta and was moving "quickly" north-northeast at 26 mph as of 2am ET, per the NHC.
• Top sustained winds were at 90 mph.
• Nearly 1.3 million customers were without power in Florida and another 367,000-plus others had no electricity in Georgia early Friday, per utility tracker poweroutage.us.
• Every tidal gauge in the Tampa Bay area set new record high levels as the storm approached on Thursday night, with meteorologist Eric Fisher noting on X that Clearwater Beach had smashed its previous record of 6.8ft by over 2 feet — and high tide was "still coming in."

Between the lines: Helene's expansive wind field is powering the potentially deadly storm surge.

• The storm built its inner core of strongest winds and has rapidly intensified during the day Thursday, the NHC stated, a trend forecast to continue through landfall.
• With tropical storm and hurricane warnings in effect for more than three states, power outages are likely to be widespread.

• The NWS forecast office in Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C., issued a dire statement Thursday afternoon warning of the historic flood threat facing western North Carolina, including Asheville: "This will be one of the most significant weather events to happen in the western portions of the area in the modern era.
• "Record flooding is forecasted and has been compared to the floods of 1916 in the Asheville area."

Zoom in: Numerous major cities, including Tallahassee, Tampa, Jacksonville and Atlanta were likely to see strong, damaging winds from this storm.

• Tallahassee may see its most damaging hurricane on record due to extremely high winds, depending on the landfall location and track.
• The storm was moving at an unusually fast rate of speed, as it rotated around a weather system over the Southeast.
• This was bringing the threat of significant damage well inland through nearly the entire state of Georgia and much of South Carolina.
• NWS warned power outages were likely to be widespread and "prolonged."

Context: Climate change is boosting global ocean temperatures, which were at record-high levels for more than a year straight.

• According to data from the nonprofit research group Climate Central, human-caused climate change made the current record-warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico between 200 to 500 times more likely.
• The water temperature in the storm's path is extremely warm at 86°F, the NHC noted.
• There has been a documented trend toward more storms that rapidly intensify and an amplification of the intensification rates in the Atlantic as well.
• Climate change is also causing hurricanes to produce more rainfall than they did a few decades ago.

The bottom line: This storm is on track to be a multibillion-dollar disaster that reshapes coastlines and lives.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional developments.