Columbus went under a local emergency declaration Thursday and faced hurricane warnings from national forecasters, leaving local officials worried the city would see significant damage from Hurricane Helene .
But come sunrise Friday, the city had dodged a bullet and storm damage was minimal.
That’s because a storm in the Mississippi Valley pushed the hurricane farther east at the last minute, according to AccuWeather meteorologists.
“It interacted with the additional storm in the Mississippi Valley and the wind field expanded,” AccuWeather Chief Meterologist John Porter said at a media briefing Friday morning. “It became a hybrid system that slingshot into the southeastern United States. It rapidly moved inland.”
Valdosta and central Georgia received the brunt that the Chattahoochee Valley was supposed to get.
Just outside of Valdosta, near Quitman, Helene was a Category 2 hurricane with max wind gusts reaching 125 mph at 1 a.m. Friday morning, according to AccuWeather.
One hour later outside of Tifton, teetering along I-75, Helene was still a Category 1 hurricane bringing 115 mph gusts.