nexus88 gaming ‘Huge sigh of relief.’ Helene veers east, spares Tallahassee the worst of Cat 4 storm

Even the canopy outside the historic Florida Capitol was unharmed by Hurricane Helene on Friday morning following the storm. Ana Ceballos Miami Herald Tallahassee

Florida’s capital city was bracing for the worst as Hurricane Helene approached Thursday night. But as the sun rose Friday morningnexus88 gaming, so did hopes that Tallahassee had been spared the worst of of the storm.

Forecasted to hit the city “dead-on,” Helene veered to the east, plowing instead through a less populated part of the state and side-swiping Tallahassee.

“It was a huge sigh of relief,” said David Poole, a Tallahassee resident who the day before the storm moved out of a trailer and back into his home, which had been damaged by twin tornadoes in May.

City and state officials were worried as Helene approached Florida’s Gulf Coast that Helene’s Category 4 winds would tear through Tallahassee, ripping apart its lush canopy and damaging homes, cars and structures. But the city’s towering oaks and pines stood strong.

No damage was immediately apparent in state government buildings, including the state Capitol and governor’s mansion. Florida State University’s Tallahassee campus appeared largely unscathed.

By mid-morning Friday, the town’s streetlights were largely operational, and many businesses were open. In the college town, cars lined up at the Taco Bell drive thru and lines went out the door at Waffle Houses and Denny’s locations.

Just before noon on Friday, more than 37,000 people in Tallahassee — a metro area of about 400,000 people — were without power, according to the city’s utilities outage tracker. That’s a fraction of the 1.2 million customers statewide who had their power knocked out by Hurricane Helene, a number DeSantis mentioned in a morning news briefing.

Fatalities are still being determined as emergency responders venture out into areas ravaged by the storm. At least five people died in Pinellas County alone, and another two in Tampa: one killed by a flying road sign while driving on I-4 and another found in a water-filled home.

READ MORE: Helene’s Florida toll grows: Nearly 1 million without power, 7 dead

The governor’s mansion was unharmed the Friday morning after Hurricane Helene. Ana Ceballos Miami Herald ‘A beautiful day’

Prior to the storm’s arrival, forecasts were dire. The mayor warned Wednesday of the possibility of “unprecedented damage.” At the White House Thursday, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said she would go Friday to what figured to be ground zero in Florida for hurricane damage — Tallahassee — after noting that the storm’s track had it aiming for a “dead-on” strike of the capital city.

The storm was intense.

Tallahassee resident Antonio Gonzalez said he heard a massive boom as Hurricane Helen struck that turned out to be the sound of a pine tree collapsing and crushing two vehicles parked in the front yard of the house. Ana Ceballos

READ MORE: Losses from Helene expected to be modest for Florida’s struggling insurance market

Around midnight, Tallahassee resident Antonio Gonzalez said he heard a massive boom that turned out to be the sound of a pine tree collapsing and crushing two vehicles parked in the front yard of the house. The tree remained hanging over a utility line as insurance agents assessed the damage Friday morning.

Gonzalez said he was relieved the tree did not damage the house, where he and about a dozen of his family members rode out the storm.

“We all came here because we thought it was the safest place,” Gonzalez said.

Poole, who lives in a Tallahassee neighborhood that was ravaged by the tornadoes in May, said that he was nervous that some of the debris and snapped pine trees left over from that storm could be flung like projectiles into his house. But his recently repaired home was not damaged by Helene, he said.

“Believe it or not, I am jubilant and happy,” Poole said. “It is a beautiful day.”

Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau reporters Romy Ellenbogen and Alexandra Glorioso contributed to this report.

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