AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Hurricane Helene has moved into the Gulf of Mexico as it takes aim at Florida. People there have been rushing through last-minute preparations and heeding evacuation orders ahead of what's forecast to be a major hurricane. NPR's Debbie Elliott joins us now from Apalachicola, Fla. Hi, Debbie.

DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: Hi there.

CHANG: Hi. OK, so what is the latest, at this point, on where Helene is headed and what it may bring?

ELLIOTT: Well, it's out over the warm surface waters of the Gulf of Mexico right now, just getting stronger. Already, the outer bands of the storm are affecting the state. Forecasters say we should expect rapid intensification before landfall in Florida's Big Bend region sometime tomorrow evening. This is where the panhandle, you know, meets the peninsula of Florida.

Now, the National Hurricane Center has Helene on a track to develop into a major hurricane. So you're talking about destructive winds, heavy rainfall that will certainly cause flooding and, of course, that life-threatening storm surge. And that's really the story here because this system is just so wide, and it's expected to get bigger as it moves over the Gulf and gets closer.

So even far from the eye of the storm, it's going to push this wall of water crashing into the Gulf Coast, stretching from here in Apalachicola, in the panhandle, all the way down the west coast of Florida. That has Governor Ron DeSantis warning people not to get too caught up in the forecast track for Helene making landfall.

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RON DESANTIS: This is a really big storm. You're going to see impacts up to 250 miles outside the center of the storm. And the way the storms work, it's the eastern side of the storm that is usually the most severe.

ELLIOTT: So you're looking 10 to 15 feet of a storm surge here in Apalachicola, the potential for 20 feet just to the east of here in the Big Bend.

CHANG: Oh, my God. Well, people in Florida are certainly practiced at hurricanes, right? So what are officials doing there to prepare right now?

ELLIOTT: Right. The governor's declared a state of emergency. That means resources are being staged - search-and-rescue teams with high-water vehicles and boats, helicopters, crews that will remove debris and fix downed power lines. Practically the whole state, other than just a few counties in the far western panhandle, are under some kind of tropical warning or another. That's tens of millions of people.

There are lots of closures - the University of Florida, Florida State, local schools. Also some vulnerable health care facilities are moving people to safety. Airports are halting operations. And then evacuations - here in Apalachicola, I ran into Franklin County Sheriff A.J. Smith. He was making rounds in his pickup truck. This entire county is under a mandatory evacuation order, and he's bracing for a heavy hit.

A J SMITH: You know, we don't have a loss of life but very easily could. We're going to have high winds. We're going to have high water. Power lines will be down. Trees will be down. Going to be a dangerous place to be for a little while.

ELLIOTT: We're right here on the waterfront in downtown Apalachicola. Do you expect to have storm surge coming in to town?

SMITH: Oh, yeah. I mean, we'll have four - at least four feet of water here, maybe more. All this will be underwater, where we're sitting right now.

CHANG: Well, Debbie, I understand that you spent some time along the coast today. How are people managing right now?

ELLIOTT: You know, they're boarding up buildings. They're putting the sandbags around their doors. Here in Apalachicola, it's kind of a ghost town. I've been looking out on the riverfront here. People have been moving shrimp boats and other fishing vessels out of harm's way. Workers at the 13 Mile Seafood were rushing to get everything secure and put away. They had a customer buying ice, Jack Zingarelli (ph). He said he was not evacuating.

JACK ZINGARELLI: Never have - we've been here for 72 years. We never boarded up nothing.

ELLIOTT: Despite the hardened old-timers, this is a serious storm, and people need to prepare.

CHANG: Indeed. That is NPR's Debbie Elliott in Apalachicola, Fla. Thank you so much, Debbie.

ELLIOTT: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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