AccuWeather's Bill Wadell reported live from Apalachicola, Florida, where some people who had planned to ride out Hurricane Helene changed their minds and evacuated in the hours before the storm's arrival.
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00:00Bill is in Apalachicola, Florida right now, and Bill, impacts starting to ramp up.
00:06We do believe that the eyewall will pass to your west.
00:09Now that's important for Apalachicola.
00:11You are not going to be in the right front quadrant, there will be a damaging storm surge,
00:15but it is not going to be as bad as it will be farther east in Apalachia Bay.
00:21Mr. Flynn, is uh...
00:23Yeah, and I can tell you, Bernie, with that forecast update, a lot of people are breathing
00:27a sigh of relief, but we know we're still going to be dealing with some big-time impacts
00:31here in Apalachicola.
00:32This is what some of the businesses look like.
00:34The windows are boarded up, and when it comes to the doors, they've got it tarped, they've
00:38got the sandbags, they've got tape.
00:40What they're concerned about is that threat of 10 to 15 feet of storm surge right here
00:44across the street from Apalachicola Bay.
00:47That's what they are worried about with this storm.
00:49And a lot of people did pack up and leave today.
00:52Some people did not follow that mandatory evacuation order until later today, and they
00:56decided to get out.
00:58Now, take a look at the conditions that we saw earlier today, this morning.
01:02This was around high tide, water spilling out of the bay and onto a few low-lying streets.
01:08This is just a preview of some of the impacts that we're expecting to see here tonight.
01:13Hurricane Helene will be pushing inland as the tide is rising.
01:16High tide is at 3 this morning here in Apalachicola.
01:21Some businesses have boarded up and put up the sandbags to try and block any floodwaters
01:25from getting inside, but others did not board up.
01:28We can tell you virtually every single business here in Apalachicola is shut down and locked
01:33up tight.
01:34Lyle Croft, the owner of Go Fish, says he had his boards cut years ago, but this is
01:40the first time he's ever had to use them.
01:44We've got water-absorbing snakes inside the doors, and then we use this Flex Seal tape
01:50on the joints between the wall and the floor in case anything blows underneath here.
01:56And it seemed to stick pretty well, so I'm a little nervous.
02:03Yeah, understandably, Lyle is nervous for himself, for his neighbors.
02:08He is leaving town, but there are some people who did stay here despite the mandatory evacuation,
02:14and we did speak with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office.
02:17They are concerned.
02:19At last check, there were still some holdouts in very vulnerable areas who told deputies
02:23that they were going to be staying behind.
02:26We do know that the Sheriff's Office posted a number earlier today letting people know
02:29at least a few hours ago, if you change your mind, if you're in a high-risk area or a barrier
02:34island, call deputies.
02:35They'll help you get out.
02:36But again, conditions are going to go downhill fast.
02:39We're losing daylight, so the situation is going to be getting much worse.
02:41All right, thanks for the update, Bill Waddell in Apalachicola.
02:46We'll take you to Cedar Key.
02:48Now Cedar Key is going to be in that life-threatening storm surge, and yeah, that's what Cedar
02:53Key looks like right now, and it's going to get far worse.