Florida
Hurricane Helene Moving Over Georgia Toward Tennessee Valley—Here’s What To Know
Topline
Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend as a Category 4 storm late Thursday, knocking out power in over two million homes and businesses and causing at least six deaths in Florida and Georgia before barreling toward North Carolina and the Tennessee Valley Friday.
A boat washed ashore as storm surge from Hurricane Helene affects Gulfport, Florida Sept. 26, 2024.
Key Facts
The center of Helene, which has been downgraded to a tropical storm since making landfall, was located about 30 miles northeast of Athens, Georgia, as of 7 a.m. EDT Friday, the National Hurricane Center said, with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph.
Helene is expected to bring “damaging gusty winds and life-threatening flooding” to the Southeast and southern Appalachian mountains, with total rain accumulation up to 20 inches in isolated areas.
Tornadoes are possible Friday through parts of eastern Georgia, the Carolinas and southern Virginia, and tropical storm conditions are expected to persist along the Georgia and South Carolina coasts.
Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in Asheville and McDowell counties in North Carolina as rivers and reservoirs are expected to swell from heavy rainfall, and multiple schools in Kentucky and Indiana will be closed Friday as winds and heavy rain pelt the region.
A storm surge warning remains in effect for parts of Florida, including Tampa Bay, and from Indian Pass to Apalachicola in the Panhandle.
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Key Background
Hurricane Helene first made landfall at around 11:10 p.m. EDT near the city of Perry in Florida’s Big Bend area. The storm moved through Florida and Georgia so far, leaving at least six people dead, ABC News reported. At lease one person has died in Florida, one in North Carolina and four in Georgia. Millions are without power. A flash flood emergency has been issued in Atlanta, where social media video shows dramatic rescues.
What Is Storm Surge?
Storm surge is the “abnormal rise of water generated by a storm” that exceeds the normal tide, according to the National Weather Service. Surges are caused by strong onshore winds from a tropical storm or hurricane, and storm surge from tropical cyclones is the leading cause of fatalities from hurricanes, the National Hurricane Center said.
Is Helene Impacting Airlines?
The Tampa International Airport closed to the public at 2 a.m. EDT Thursday in anticipation of Hurricane Helene and “plans to resume services when it is safe to do so Friday.”
Tangent
Helene is the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season and comes weeks after Francine made landfall as a Category 2 in Louisiana on Sept. 11. Forecasters this year predicted the busiest storm season (from June 1 to Nov. 30) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has ever forecasted—up to 25 named storms and 13 hurricanes—but the season hasn’t been as active as predicted so far.
Further Reading
Florida
Florida college Republicans group chat reveals racist texts: ‘Avoid the coloreds like the plague’
It only took three weeks for a group chat for conservative students at Florida International University (FIU) to become a place where participants eagerly used racist slurs, prompting widespread condemnation from community leaders.
Abel Alexander Carvajal, secretary of Miami-Dade county’s Republican party and a student at FIU’s College of Law, reportedly started the chat after the killing of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, in September 2025.
But on Wednesday, the Miami Herald published leaked WhatsApp conversations in which the college Republicans made racist, sexist, antisemitic and homophobic comments, including variations of the N-word used more than 400 times. Knowledge of the chat’s existence was revealed on the same day that Republican lawmakers in Florida pushed forward a bill to rename a one-mile stretch of road alongside FIU in honor of Kirk.
William Bejerano, who the Herald noted once tried to start an anti-abortion group at Miami Dade College, was the most prolific user of the N-word. Using the slur, Bejerano called for dozens of acts of extreme violence against Black people, including crucifying, beheading and dissecting.
Dariel Gonzalez, then the College Republicans’ recruitment chair, who has recently applied to become a GOP committee member, responded to the calls for violence by saying: “How edgy.” He repeatedly used “colored” to describe Black people, including writing: “Ew you had colored professors?!” and “Avoid the coloreds like the plague,” according to the Herald.
Carvajal, who was appointed to a two-year role on the city of Hialeah’s planning and zoning board earlier this year, confirmed to the paper that the group chat was his doing, but he denied knowledge of the problematic comments until the publication contacted him about its logs last week.
“It’s been five months since this was sent and this is the first time I’ve seen this message,” Carvajal told the Herald.
“I guess to an extent, I bear some responsibility, cause I created a chat. But if I had seen this at the moment, I would have removed [Bejerano] from the chat. I probably would have even blocked his number.”
The Herald found that Carvajal had deleted 14 messages sent by other participants in the chat and 42 of his own messages before the publication obtained the chat’s logs.
He also participated in some of the racist discussions. While referring to a Black student who allegedly left FIU’s College Republicans after a member of the group “called her a [N-word]”, the Floridian reported that Carvajal wrote: “Why didn’t miggress leave?” Elsewhere in the chat, the publication reported that Carvajal used “Miggress”, “Migglet” and “Migger” to refer to Black women, Black children and Black people, in general.
At one point, Gonzalez wrote: “You can fuck all the [K-word, a slur for Jewish people] you want. Just don’t marry them and procreate.”
Ian Valdes, the Turning Point USA FIU chapter president, responded, “I would def not marry a Jew,” before changing the group chat’s name from “Uber [R-word slur for disabled people] Yapping” to “Gooning in Agartha”. “Gooning” is a gen-Z slang term for male masturbation, while “Agartha” is a mythical white civilization promoted by Heinrich Himmler, one of the most powerful leaders in Nazi Germany next to Hitler.
Gonzalez reportedly described Agartha to the group chat as “Nazi heaven sort of”.
Kevin Cooper, the first Jewish chair of the Miami Dade Republican party, condemned the group chat in a statement published to X and called for Carvajal’s resignation.
“The majority of our board voted to request Carvajal’s resignation. We have commenced removal proceedings and look forward to resolution from the Republican Party of Florida,” he wrote.
That call was echoed by Juan Porras, a Republican state representative and Miami-Dade GOP state committee member, who said in a statement: “Leadership carries responsibility. When someone in a leadership role engages in this kind of behavior, it damages the trust placed in our party by voters across Florida. For that reason, I am asking the Miami Dade Republican party secretary to step down from this position.”
In a joint statement, Florida Republican state senators Alexis Calatayud, Ileana Garcia and Ana Maria Rodriguez denounced the chats and called for the expulsion from party leadership of its participants.
“The individuals in the group chat have exposed how profoundly misaligned their beliefs are to the views of the Republican party of Florida,” their statement said. “We call for the immediate expulsion of the individuals disseminating from any level of leadership of the Miami-Dade Republican Party … We will not tolerate bigotry or discrimination.”
Multiple leaked group chats from young Republicans have created controversy in recent years.
Last year, Politico published messages from a group chat of more than 100 conservatives across the country in which users also made racist and antisemitic comments. In 2022, a Young Republican group chat from North Dakota was revealed as a cesspool of homophobic and antisemitic rhetoric.
Florida
Federal judge blocks DeSantis executive order declaring CAIR a 'terrorist organization'
Florida
Gas prices rise in South Florida amid U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran, as the stock market also reports a dip
Four days into the Iranian conflict, gas prices are rising at many stations in South Florida.
“I’ve traveled all over the United States,” says Stacey Williams. CBS Miami spoke to him as he was gassing up on the turnpike. He paid $66 for 20 gallons of diesel to fill his pickup truck. Williams has noted the fluctuations in fuel as he drives to locations for his work on turbines. He just spent three weeks at the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant south of Miami.
“The salary we get paid per hour does not add up to what we pay for gas, housing, and food,” he says.
Mitchell Gershon is also dealing with the higher gas prices. He has to fill three vehicles constantly for his business—Thrifty Gypsy, a pop-up store at musical venues. He’s back and forth from Orlando to Miami and says fuel is costing him 20% more. When asked how he handles these fluctuations, he said, “Have a little backup cash so you are ready for it.”
The rise in oil prices contributed to a drop in the stock market on Tuesday, which means some retirement accounts dipped, too. CBS Miami talked to Chad NeSmith, director of investments at Tobias Financial Advisors in Plantation, for perspective on the drop.
“We are seeing most of the pullback today. Yesterday was a shock,” he says. He’s not expecting runaway oil prices but says investors should stay in the loop: “Pay attention to your portfolio. Stick to your goals. Have a plan because these things are completely unpredictable.”
That unpredictability has Williams adjusting his budget. “You just cut back, cut corners, all you can do,” he says.
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