TALLAHASSEE – Rescue and recovery efforts were underway Friday morning in North Florida’s Big Bend region and other areas of the state after the Category 4 Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Taylor County.
State Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie implored people not involved in recovery efforts to stay off the roads as authorities conducted search-and-rescue efforts amid debris and dissipating storm surge.
“Please do not go out and visit the impacted areas,” Guthrie said Friday morning at the state Emergency Operations Center. “We have over 1,500 search and rescue personnel in the highly impacted areas right now. Do not get in their way. We need you to stay off the roads and get out of our way so that we could go do our jobs.”
Packing 140 mph winds, Helene swept through North Florida after surging onto land about 11:10 p.m. Thursday east of the mouth of the Aucilla River, about 10 miles from the Taylor County community of Perry. But storm surge from the massive storm also caused damage up and down the state’s Gulf Coast.