Hurricane Helene makes Florida landfall as Cat 4 storm with 140 mph winds

Hurricane Helene made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida shortly after 11pm local time on Thursday night as a powerful Category 4 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph Helene is the strongest storm to make landfall along the Big Bend coast since 1851.

Helene, the fourth US Gulf Coast landfalling hurricane of the 2024 season, rapidly intensified as it moved through the eastern Gulf of Mexico, eventually reaching Cat 4 status as the storm made landfall roughly 10 miles west-southwest of Perry, Florida, with a minimum central pressure of 938 mb.

The large storm brought catastrophic and deadly storm surge along portions of the Florida Big Bend coast, where officials warn inundation could reach as high as 20 feet above ground level.

Reports suggest that Tampa Bay area water gauges exceeded record levels in almost every case, and while the surge is starting to recede, the area has experienced its highest storm surge event in over 80 years, with levels of near to the forecasted 8 feet.

While life threatening storm surge, winds, and heavy rains continue, Helene is now weakening as it moves quickly north-northeastward near Valdosta, Georgia, with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph, so now a Category 1 storm.

The latest update from the NHC at 2am local time, reveals that the tropical storm warning has been discontinued for the Florida Keys, including the Dry Tortugas, but remains in effect for numerous other areas, including Flamingo to Anclote River, including Tampa Bay; West of Mexico Beach to the Okaloosa/Walton County Line; Flamingo northward to Little River Inlet; and Lake Okeechobee.

Further, a hurricane warning is still in effect for Anclote River to Mexico Beach, and a Hurricane Watch is in effect for Englewood to Anclote River, including Tampa Bay.

Storm surge warning remains in effect for Mexico Beach eastward and southward to Flamingo, Tampa Bay, and Charlotte Harbor.

Damage at the landfall site remains unclear, but reports do suggest that the storm surge impacts of Hurricane Helene are far-reaching and being felt in more built-up areas. As ever, it’s very difficult to gauge how costly a storm surge event of this magnitude could be for the re/insurance industry, and the wind damage also appears to have impacted areas far from the landfall site given the size and strength of the storm.

So, there’s still uncertainty around just how high industry losses from the storm could be. Previously, there were fears that Helene could track further east ahead of landfall to regions more densely populated, but this wasn’t the case and the forecast area of the Big Bend region is where the storm hit.

Yesterday, ahead of landfall, reinsurance broker Gallagher Re estimated that Helene’s private insurance market losses should be expected to land in the range of USD 3 billion to USD 6 billion.

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