Tropical Storm Helene officially reached hurricane status Wednesday morning, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

The NWS afternoon update at 5:40 p.m. put much of North Florida in the Hurricane Warning area with the storm now projected to be a Category 4 (130 to 156 miles per hour) when it makes landfall on Thursday afternoon with catastrophic wind.

Storm surge is projected all along the entire coast of west Florida with the hardest hit areas to be in the Big Bend region from Pasco to Levy counties with 10 to 15 feet of storm surge.

According to the NHC, the I-75 corridor will experience the highest amounts of rainfall ranging between 3 to 6 inches and some areas with 8 to 10 inches. A flood watch has been posted for Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia.

High winds are also expected to produce several tornadoes beginning Wednesday night through Thursday night.

Alachua County has issued an evacuation order for residents living in manufactured homes, mobile homes, recreational vehicles and homes that may not survive the storm along with residents living in areas subject to flooding or people in proximity to bodies of water.

Multiple shelters are now open throughout North Florida for people evacuating ahead of Hurricane Helene in Alachua, Dixie, Levy, Columbia, Gilchrist and Suwannee counties.

Public school closures have been announced throughout the North Florida area along with sandbagging locations in Alachua and Columbia counties and in Dixie, Levy and Gilchrist counties. The University of Florida and Santa Fe College in Gainesville and Florida Gateway College in Lake City also announced closures.

For high school football, the Bradford will host Keystone Heights in Starke at 5 p.m. and St. Augustine will travel to Columbia High School at 7 p.m. today.

On Friday, Buchholz will travel to Nease in Ponte Vedra at 7 p.m. while Oak Hall is scheduled to host Eagle’s View (Jacksonville) at 7 p.m. in Gainesville.

The remainder of the area high school football games have either been canceled or postponed.

Alachua County released the Alachua County Ready website with resources to prepare for the storm. For Gainesville area storm alerts, sign up for email phone and text notifications at www.alertgnv.org.

UF/IFAS has a resource page on how to prepare for storms that includes tips on how to prepare for a disaster, taking care of your home, health and pets, what to do with you livestock and agriculture and how to prepare your trees and landscape.

The items that the city of Gainesville recommended to prepare for the upcoming hurricane include:

• Refill needed prescriptions. All health insurers, managed care organizations, and other health entities must comply with the state statute which allows for early prescription refills as the Governor issued an executive order Monday declaring a state of emergency.

• Review your family emergency plan and stock your emergency preparedness kit, including flashlight batteries and nonperishable foods for family and your pets. Visit ready.gov for more information.
• Now is the time to bring inside any loose objects in your yard (lawn furniture, political signs, outdoor decorations, hanging plants, etc.) so they do not become projectiles in strong winds.