Hurricane Helene: Federal Emergency Declaration Issued For FL

FLORIDA — President Joe Biden on Thursday approved an emergency declaration for Florida, making federal assistance available statewide ahead of Hurricane Helene's arrival. And the Federal Emergency Management Agency's administrator urged residents to evacuate ahead of an expected 20-foot storm surge.

Biden's approval allows the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA to provide disaster relief efforts, according to a White House news release.

FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said at a Thursday press conference that Florida officials have positioned crews to respond as quickly as weather allows to likely widespread outages, especially in the Big Bend area, where landfall is expected.

“Take this storm seriously, people in Hurricane Helene's path need to listen to your local officials," Criswell said. "If they tell you to evacuate, please do so. Those decisions can save lives.”

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Eight search and rescue teams have already deployed in Florida and Georgia, she said. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has power restoration teams in place to help local crews.

Food, water, generators and tarps are at staging sites in the region so they are easily accessible to those in need.

Florida has a robust plan to try to get power back up in 48 hours, the FEMA chief said, although untangling power lines from trees can take a long time.

"We expect widespread power outages from this, Tallahassee has a lot of tree canopy," Criswell said.

Helene was upgraded Thursday morning to a Category 2 storm and is expected to be a major hurricane — meaning a Category 3 or higher — when it makes landfall on Florida's northwestern coast Thursday evening. Tropical storm force winds already started hitting the state in advance.

Federal funding will be available on a cost-sharing basis for emergency protective measures limited to direct federal assistance and reimbursement for mass care including evacuation and shelter support to Bay, Calhoun, Charlotte, Citrus, Collier, Dixie, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hernando, Hillsborough, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lee, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Manatee, Monroe, Pasco, Pinellas, Sarasota, Suwannee, Taylor and Wakulla counties.

Federal funding is also available to provide emergency protective measures limited to direct federal assistance for Alachua, Bradford, Columbia, Escambia, Hamilton, Holmes, Marion, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Sumter, Union, Walton and Washington counties.