Intense wind gusts sweep into Tallahassee

AccuWeather

Just ahead of Hurricane Helene's landfall, AccuWeather's Ali Reid reported live from Tallahassee, Florida, as wind gusts picked up strength across the region.

Transcript

00:00We want to hear from Allie Reed right now. She is joining us live from Tallahassee, the capital city.

00:05Allie, I know that things were really escalating when we last checked in with you,

00:08but it's been an hour. So how are things looking right now?

00:14Right, Jeff, Bernie, we've been talking as it gets closer to

00:18a Helene-making landfall. It's going to start getting worse here in the Tallahassee area.

00:23That is exactly what we've seen over the last couple of hours. It's been a steady

00:27change of pace here, right? It was rather quiet earlier, not a lot of wind or rain.

00:32That is certainly starting to pick up now. And those wind gusts, wow,

00:38those wind gusts can be very intense at times as they work their way through this area. Now,

00:43we decided to come back to this location. We're right outside of the downtown area in Tallahassee

00:47because there is a retention pond directly next to me. We're at Cascades Park. The interesting

00:52thing about this area here is the fact that many, many years ago, because city officials said this

00:58is an area that is very, a ton of flooding that this area gets, especially in low-lying areas

01:04like where we're in right now, that retention pond was a great way to really help this city

01:09out so that they don't see as much flooding. Now, the positive is, is my photographer,

01:13Andy, have been roving throughout the area. There's not a ton of flooding just yet

01:17here in this area. That could potentially change later on, especially as Helene makes

01:23its way closer to the Tallahassee area. But it's the wind that is the major factor right now that

01:29is certainly starting to pick up here in this area. It is very intense at times. We can hear

01:35the wind tunnels moving throughout the buildings here in the city. And within the last few minutes

01:40as well, we saw a power flash as well. We know that there are many people without power. At last

01:47check, across the entire state of Florida, 630,000 people are without power right now.

01:55We know that there are many people even in Tallahassee that that has already started

01:59to be a factor for, again, mobile homes, manufactured homes. We've been mentioning

02:03that those areas are at great risk with the winds that we're going to be seeing because of Helene.

02:11I just want to pause for one second. This wind.

02:13Yeah.

02:14Take that in.

02:15Yeah.

02:17That's a scary, scary sound to hear, Bernie.

02:20Yeah. And you know, Allie, I was just looking at the radar here. So you're going to get

02:23that western eyewall is going to miss you, thankfully, to the east by about five,

02:29to the east by about five miles. But your worst conditions are yet to come. Here we are at 1103

02:35Eastern by midnight. I think your wind gusts are going to be stopping here at over 80 miles per

02:40hour. So things will be getting far worse here in the next couple of hours in Tallahassee.

02:45Allie Reed reporting for us. Allie, batten down the hatches, get yourself safe,

02:49because you're going to feel the full fury of Hurricane Helene here coming up within about an

02:54hour. And a few miles could make a big difference. I remember Francine Baton Rouge was barely west

02:59of the western part of the eyewall and across the city, a huge scope there with many different

03:04impacts. With this one, again, the worst of the eyewall, barely east of Tallahassee,

03:08but you're going to face still a fierce storm, as Bernie said, but just maybe 15,

03:1220 miles east of there. Perry, Florida, soon to step into the eye, Bernie.

03:16Yeah, right into the eye. I want to look at this because I believe

03:19we are very close to official landfall here.

Category

Transcript

Recommended