TALLAHASSEE – Ahead of Hurricane Helene ‘s arrival, last-minute preparations were taking place in Tallahassee , where some gas stations had started to run out of gas.
Others were busy picking up sandbags at distribution centers and boarding up to secure their properties.
Kameron Benjamin, 19, a Florida A&M student, filled sandbags with his roommate to protect their apartment before evacuating. Their school and Florida State shut down .
“This hurricane is heading straight to Tallahassee, so I really don’t know what to expect,” Benjamin said.
As Big Bend residents battened down their homes, many saw the ghost of 2018’s Hurricane Michael . That storm rapidly intensified and crashed ashore as a Category 5 that laid waste to Panama City and parts of the rural Panhandle.
“People are taking heed and hightailing it out of there for higher ground,” said Kristin Korinko, a Tallahassee resident who serves as the commodore of the Shell Point Sailboard Club, on the Gulf Coast about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Tallahassee.