Tropical storm force winds began battering Florida on Thursday as Hurricane Helene prepared to make landfall, with forecasters warning that the enormous storm could create a “nightmare” surge along the coast and

By Rich McKay, Brendan O'Brien (Reuters) -Powerful storm Helene officially became a hurricane on Wednesday morning, the National Hurricane Center said, packing maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph) as it churned in the eastern Gulf of Mexico just off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula.

In Florida, over one million homes were left without power. In the face of the dramatic impacts of Hurricane Helene, governors declared a state of emergency. In St. Petersburg, Florida, massive sand drifts appeared,