Helene is poised to make landfall on Florida's Big Bend late Thursday. Forecasters warn that the unusually large storm will bring heavy rain and wind as far inland as the Appalachians and Atlanta.

Fast-moving Hurricane Helene was advancing Thursday across the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida, threatening an “unsurvivable” storm surge in northwestern parts of the state as well as damaging winds, rains and flash floods hundreds of miles inland across much of the southeastern U.