ALMA, Georgia — Hurricane Helene brought powerful winds and heavy rainfall as it struck along the southeastern U.S. coast.
As the storm swept inland, the First Coast saw its fair share of extreme weather, with notable wind reports extending well beyond the immediate landfall zone.
One of the highest wind gusts came from Alma, Georgia, a small town located just north of Waycross and more than 150 miles inland from Helene’s landfall point.
Despite being far from the coast, Alma recorded a staggering wind gust of 100 mph—underscoring fast forward motion of the storm as it tracked inland. In Dowling Park a hamlet outside of Live Oak wind gust were reported at 99 mph. This area had widespread tree and building damage and was under an "extreme wind warning" as Helene hit the area for winds that would create tornado-like damage.
The First Coast, which includes parts of Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia, experienced widespread wind damage, downed trees, and power outages due to Helene. In coastal areas on the Atlantic coast, maximum sustained winds pushed to 80-90 mph well east of the storm center.
This underscores how the right front quadrant also known as the "dirty side" of a storm typically has the worst of the weather. For example, just west of the storm center in Tallahassee wind gusts were only reported near 60 mph.
