Helene is expected to make landfall on Florida's Big Bend this evening as a major category 4 hurricane, bringing the risk of catastrophic damage.

By Rich McKay, Brendan O'Brien, Andrew Hay (Reuters) -Driving rain flooded roadways and closed down airports in Florida as an intensifying Hurricane Helene marched toward the state's panhandle region,

Helene grows stronger as it continues to track toward Florida's Gulf Coast and bring "catastrophic" winds and storm surge to parts of the region, according to Thursday morning's advisory from the National Hurricane Center.