Florida County Makes Grim Request as Hurricane Helene Makes Landfall

Residents in the Florida county bearing the brunt of Hurricane Helene were issued a grim warning hours before the massive storm began pounding the coast of the Sunshine State. Helene made landfall near the small town of Perry, Florida in Taylor County around 11:10pm as a Category 4 hurricane, the National Hurricane Center confirmed on Thursday night, with wind speeds reaching up to 140 miles per hour. Taylor County, a rural county in Florida’s Big Bend region, issued mandatory evacuation orders to its roughly 21,000 residents on Tuesday. Before the storm made landfall, local authorities made a morbid request of residents who did not heed the instructions to evacuate. “If you or someone you know chose not to evacuate PLEASE write your name, birthday and important information on your arm or leg in A PERMANENT MARKER so that you can be identified and your family notified,” the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office said in an announcement on social media .

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