New York [US], September 26: Hurricane Helene has rapidly strengthened in the Caribbean Sea while moving north between the coasts of Mexico and Cuba towards the United States, prompting officials to declare an emergency in Florida.
Helene is expected to move over deep, warm waters, fuelling its intensification on Wednesday as it moves north across the Gulf of Mexico, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
Heavy rainfall was forecast for the southeastern US starting Wednesday, with a "life-threatening storm surge" along the entire west coast of Florida, according to the NHC.
On Wednesday afternoon, Helene was located about 135km from Cozumel, Mexico, and about 810km south-southwest of Tampa, on Florida's west coast, as it moved northwest at 17km/h with maximum sustained winds of 130km/h.
The strong winds knocked out power in the Cayman Islands where heavy rain and waves reached as high as three metres. Many in Cuba also worried about the storm, whose outer bands are expected to reach the capital of Havana, which is already struggling with chronic power outages.
Mexico is still reeling from former Hurricane John battering its Pacific coast on Monday and Tuesday, killing two people, blowing tin roofs off houses, triggering mudslides and toppling trees, officials said. John weakened to a depression after reaching land but then reformed as a tropical storm on Wednesday, and is forecast to make another landfall in the Mexican state of Guerrero.
Source: Qatar Tribune