Helene Reaches Hurricane Status, Shift West Will Likely Reduce Fayetteville Impacts

Hurricane Helene now has her official status in the Gulf of Mexico, and rapid strengthening is expected to occur. But a westerly shift in track should reduce some of the impacts on Fayetteville. As of the 11 a.m. update from the National Hurricane Center had Helene with maximum sustained winds near 80 mph. She was moving north-northwest at 10 mph. The center of the storm is expected to move across the Gulf and make landfall somewhere along the Big Bend coast of Florida sometime Thursday night. But the storm is large, and will impact far from center. After that, the storm will slow down, and likely move northwest again. That's when Fayetteville and the rest of North Carolina will start to see some impacts. Current projects have 1-4 inches of rain falling in our area, with rapidly increasing amounts over Western North Carolina. The storm is expected to impact areas west of Charlotte the hardest. "Over the Southeastern U.S. into the Southern Appalachians, Helene is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 5 to 10 inches with isolated totals around 15 inches," the NHC advisory said. "This rainfall will likely result in areas of considerable flash and urban flooding, with areas of significant river flooding. Landslides are possible in areas of steep terrain in the southern Appalachians." https://twitter.com/NCEmergency/status/1838961346773127635 North Carolina Emergency Management said the storm is expected to become a major hurricane before landfall, meaning a Category 3 or higher. Flooding and landslide concerns are high in the western part of the state. https://www.facebook.com/NWSRaleigh/posts/pfbid02SSyBVBFk2RdjTRvyVQbrxnrAk2s413bQAu7NTBxBGEWr3czinLbwF5wjpkzQEcJwl