'Eerily quiet' in Tallahassee as people hunker down before Helene's landfall

AccuWeather

AccuWeather's Ali Reid reported live from Tallahassee in the hours before landfall, warning of the dangers of an impending powerful hurricane.

Transcript

00:00Our team coverage continues now live with Allie Reid in the news.

00:04Very grim here, Allie. We were worried about tightening. We've been talking about that for days.

00:09I don't know if you heard that, but now maximum stay in winds of 140 miles per hour.

00:14You're sitting well inland. We expect the center of circulation to pass to your east by about 25 miles,

00:21but that is going to put you in the western eyewall.

00:24And, Allie, you're going to be, well, you won't be surprised because you and I talked about this.

00:28It's going to go from quiet to very, very extreme here very quickly here within the next few hours.

00:39And, Bertie, what I find so interesting about this storm is the fact that it is essentially going to go from zero

00:46to potentially 140 like you just mentioned.

00:49And, again, my photographer Andy and I, we've been sitting here scratching our heads saying,

00:53how is this almost possible? It is so quiet. It is eerily quiet here in Tallahassee right now.

00:59We do see some wind at times. We have a little bit of rain, but nothing in comparison to what you, Bernie and Jeff,

01:05are talking about potentially in the next couple of hours here as Helene makes landfall.

01:10Now, just to give you a perspective of where I'm at right now, this is Park Avenue.

01:13We're in downtown Tallahassee. This area in particular, well, first of all, is just gorgeous.

01:18So we wanted to really come here and show you what it's like.

01:21I mean, really, really show you the beauty here in Tallahassee.

01:24And, again, what I want to do for you guys, for the viewers at home,

01:27is give you a perspective of what Tallahassee looks like right now.

01:30And then, again, as we continue to check in with you over the next couple of hours,

01:34give you a perspective of what it's going to look like then.

01:37As we've been talking about, I think it's going to be a little bit different in the next few hours.

01:41I also want to put your direction down the street here if we can.

01:44At times, what we are noticing is the fact that when those wind gusts do pick up,

01:49we are seeing that from the ground up.

01:51And at times, it can look very eerie. It can look a little scary at times.

01:55And, of course, that is something that we are paying mind to over the next couple of hours.

02:00Also, just to kind of give you an aerial perspective of what's happening right now in this area,

02:06there are a lot of media crews here.

02:08We believe that this area might be like the media staging hotel as well.

02:11A number of networks are here.

02:13A lot of us are in this area because we know that this could potentially be a high-impact area.

02:17Some other things that we're paying mind to, the trees.

02:20We've been talking about that nonstop.

02:22The oak trees here because they are tall and because they are old.

02:26Even Governor Ron DeSantis, as he's mentioned that state of emergency yesterday over 24 hours ago.

02:33He even mentioned today in his presser the trees are going to be a big thing to look out for,

02:39especially in mobile home or manufactured home communities.

02:42They were told to evacuate yesterday.

02:45They had until 8 o'clock this morning.

02:47There are shelters all across Leon County, which is where we are now.

02:51A number of high schools are set up for those people to come in.

02:54At last check a few hours ago, we know there was a couple of thousand of people across those shelters.

03:00They're allowing pets into those facilities as well.

03:03They have cots for the elderly.

03:05And, again, paying mind to those people that are going to need some extra attention.

03:10I've been having a number of conversations, guys, with people that are in those mobile homes.

03:14Unfortunately, many of them bracing for potentially what could be the worst.

03:19They had to deal with a tornado back in May of this year.

03:22A lot of them suffered some pretty severe damage during that.

03:25And so now they are very nervous.

03:29They're feeling a little devastated and frustrated, anxious leading into the storm.

03:33And I mentioned it in the last hour because I'm feeling it myself.

03:36Nuts in my stomach.

03:38That is the best way to describe what is happening right now, guys.

03:41It is a little nerve-wracking.

03:43And because of the fact that we truly are going from zero to potentially 100 here

03:49in terms of when this storm actually comes through,

03:52it's going to be a little bit of a shock factor, I think, Bernie and Jeff,

03:55because we truly, again, it's so quiet right now.

04:00I just don't know how else, I mean, look at this.

04:03Bernie, look at this. It's so quiet.

04:06Isn't that eerie? It's an eerie feeling, guys.

04:08It's very eerie.

04:09Just a few miles away from landfall.

04:11Allie, I just want to let you know not to tie your stomach in knots more,

04:14but we now have issued a very rare extreme high wind warning.

04:19It does not include Tallahassee itself.

04:22I lost you guys, so if you're talking to me, unfortunately I'm not going to be able to hear you.

04:26All right, I just want to let you know we do now have an extreme high wind warning

04:30that is just east of Tallahassee.

04:33Those include Dixie, Lafayette, Madison, and Taylor counties.

04:38An extreme wind warning, that's when there is a concern for sustained winds

04:44or gusts of 115 miles per hour.

04:47That is not associated with thunderstorms.

04:49It is very rare. You don't see it much.

04:52As I mentioned a few hours ago, when I looked at the satellite picture,

04:56I had flashbacks of two storms that, unfortunately, I've had to cover in my career.

05:02Ian and Michael, both storms tightened right before landfall.

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