Hurricane Helene will continue to strengthen as it heads toward landfall in Florida's Big Bend area Thursday night. It could become a major Category 4 hurricane. In its 3 p.m. EDT update, the National Hurricane Center said Helene was about 160 miles west-southwest of Tampa,

Hurricane Helene was upgraded to a Category 2 storm Thursday and expected to grow even stronger before making landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region on Thursday evening. Nearly 300 miles of the Florida coastline — from Mexico Beach in the Panhandle to the Anclote River just north of Tampa — was under a hurricane warning.