Hurricane Helene now a monster Category 4 storm, threatening ‘unsurvivable’ flooding — here’s the path

PERRY, Florida — Hurricane Helene was bearing down on Florida’s Big Bend on Thursday night as a monster Category 4 storm with winds of 130 mph and “unsurvivable” storm surges.

Authorities pleaded with residents for hundreds of miles along Florida’s gulf coast to evacuate immediately. In Taylor County, the sheriff urged residents who ignored evacuation orders to ink their names, birthdays and other identifying information on their arms and legs in permanent marker in case their dead bodies need to be later identified.

“We can’t control how strong this hurricane’s going to get,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said, as he pleaded with residents in the both of the storm to evacuate.

“We can’t control the track of the hurricane, but what you can control is what you can do to put yourself in the best chance to be able to ride this out in a way that’s going to be safe.”

The storm — one of the largest ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico — picked up power as neared the coast.

It was upgraded to Category 4 status around 6 p.m. Thursday.

Hurricane-force winds extended outward for up to 60 miles from the center and the tropical storm-force winds up to 310 miles outward, the National Hurricane Center said.

“Certainly nobody in recent memory has seen a storm of this magnitude,” DeSantis warned earlier on Thursday.

The only three Gulf hurricanes that were bigger than Helene’s predicted size were 2017’s Irma, 2005’s Wilma and 1995’s Opal, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.

Helene will likely break “all the records we have” for the size of hurricanes modern era,” FOX Weather meteorologist Cody Braud told The Post.

“We’re talking an expansive area compared to a typical storm, where maybe the tropical storm force winds only extend 100 or 150 miles out from the center,” Braud said.

“This one is essentially double that, maybe getting close to almost three times as large as a normal storm we see move through the Gulf.”

Florida, North Carolina seeing major flooding as Hurricane Helene moves in

Helene developed an eye in the early morning, satellite images showed – which indicated that the storm was continuing to gather strength over the very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The storm is expected to make a “dead-on hit” to Tallahassee, FEMA Director Deanne Criswell said at a White House briefing Thursday afternoon.

Experts have also warned that a large stretch of the Florida Panhandle could see  “unsurvivable” storm surge of up to 20 feet.

The deadly stretch covers the Apalachee Bay south of Tallahassee — from Carrabelle to the Suwannee River.

Areas as far south as Tampa Bay and Clearwater could see storm surge of up to 8 feet as the hurricane passes, Braud told The Post.

A state of emergency has been declared in 61 of Florida’s 67 counties, and several in the storm’s path are under evacuation orders.

“It will likely be dark by the time this storm passes,” DeSantis cautioned.

“Do not try to do any work in the dark. You don’t know what hazards are out there. The sun is going to come out. You’re going to have time to take stock of this.”

Emergency officials have sent more than 130 generators to gas stations to ensure that people will be able to fill up their cars after the storm, and extra fuel has been shipped to the state, the governor added.

At the largest Ace Hardware in Perry – situated in the heart of Big Bend – people from across the area stocked up on plywood, tarps, and generators before the store mostly sold-out and closed on Thursday.

“It was orderly, not like panic,” said Paul Welsh, who lives in a nearby rural town.

At the Perry Walmart and Winn-Dixie markets, Welsh’s wife Donna said people made the usual runs on “most of the stuff you’d expect.”

“Bottled water, drinks, paper towels, lots of canned goods are gone.”

The Welshes – and most of the people they know – are not planning to follow evacuation orders, and instead ride the storm out at home.

Scary moment possible tornado tears into Florida residence ahead of Hurricane Helene

“This is a big one, but my house is concrete block and it’s made for this weather. I’ve done plywood and tape, and I’ll ride it out. I think it’ll be fine,” Paul said.

Desperate officials in Pinellas County — where St. Petersburg and Clearwater are located — urged residents who may still be in their homes to evacuate at Helene closed in.

“Way too many people in Zone A [the area directly on the coast] aren’t listening. We’ve been out there this morning. There are still way too many people in the areas,” Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said during a press conference Thursday morning.

“There’s going to reach a point where you’re on your own, because we’re not going to get our people killed because you don’t want to listen to what we’re saying,” Gualtieri insisted.

“Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Someone is going to win a stupid prize because they didn’t get out, and we aren’t coming,” he said in one stern slip shared by FOX13’s Genevieve Curtis.

All along Highway 98, access to the coastline was blocked off by cops in the towns of Athena, Salem and Tennille – with all access to the beaches completely restricted.

“We’re keeping people off the beach. There were some surfers who tried to go out there, which is just idiotic. Happens every time there’s a storm. People want to take advantage of big waves,” one officer told The Post.

“We’re not going to rescue people if they get into trouble, so it’s just idiotic for them to even try it. You reporters too. You should be going away from the beach, not towards it,” he added.

Local residents’ reluctance to evacuate from areas that are outside of the main landfall zone may be due to some “recency bias,” Braud suggested.

“We had hurricane Idalia move through this region last year, also as a major hurricane. It did not live up to the expectations with the storm surge, because the storm was weakening on its approach,” he noted.

“Some of the residents around the coastline are thinking that they can maybe, you know, ride this one out when. And honestly, they probably should evacuate.”

“It’s just too dangerous.”

The 20-foot storm surge could “change the landscape” of Franklin County, which is located near the impact zone in the northwest of Florida, the county commissioner Ricky Jones told CNN.

Jones said that he normally stays in town for hurricanes, but changed his mind when he saw how powerful Helene was set to be.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR MORNING REPORT NEWSLETTER

“I had intended to ride this out, because we were looking at a (Category) 2, maybe a 3,” Jones said. “As of last night, my family and I have made the arrangements… we will not be staying.”

On Thursday morning, flooding had already created rivers in what were once streets on Treasure Island, a barrier island in Pinellas County, a video shared on X showed.

Airports in Tampa, Tallahassee and Clearwater were closed on Thursday, while more than half of the flights to airports in Sarasota and Fort Myers were canceled, according to FlightAware.

In Atlanta, the world’s busiest airport was also beset with some delays, CNN said, as were Charlotte, North Carolina — and Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, in Florida.

The torrential rainfall from Helene is expected to bring life-threatening flooding to Florida and beyond, including two distinct areas of the rare level 4 of 4 excessive rainfall risk throughout the Southeast.

Extreme wind damage is expected up the Florida coast along I-95 into Tennessee, with widespread power outages likely.

There were also tornado warnings issued throughout Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

Florida has National Guard 3,500 soldiers ready to respond to the storm, as well as 200 Florida High Patrol troopers at the ready and 550 generators and 40 large pumps from the Florida Departments of Transportation, NBC News reported.

As of Thursday morning, 80 healthcare facilities, hospitals, assisted living and nursing homes had completed various levels of evacuation, Gov. DeSantis said.

Schools and universities along the Gulf Coast have also canceled classes.

Helene already swamped parts of Yucatan Peninsula on Wednesday, flooding streets and toppling trees as it passed offshore and brushed the resort city of Cancun.

The storm caused power outages in Cuba early Thursday.

Helene formed Tuesday in the Caribbean Sea.

Helene is the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year because of record-warm ocean temperatures.

With Post wires

For top headlines, breaking news and more, visit nypost.com.