The Big Bend area buffers the coastline from Florida's capital city, Tallahassee, which is a little more than 20 miles from the Gulf Coast.

The National Hurricane Center warned there is danger of life-threatening storm surges "along the entire west coast of the Florida Peninsula and Florida Big Bend"

Forecasters say they expect Tropical Storm Helene in the Caribbean Sea to strengthen rapidly and become a hurricane as it moves north across the Gulf of Mexico toward the United States.

Ships and aircraft in the path of Hurricane Helene are making preparations to leave the area as the storm intensifies. Helene is expected to make landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida on Thursday evening after traveling northward over the Gulf of Mexico over the past two days.

Tropical Storm Helene continues to strengthen and is forecast to make landfall on the Big Bend Coast of Florida late Thursday night.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday said Florida is preparing for a direct hit from a major hurricane that could intensify quickly before it makes landfall in the Panhandle later this week. The National Hurricane Center predicted a tropical storm currently in the Gulf of Mexico will become Hurricane Helene as it moves north toward Florida by Thursday.

Florida residents are already evacuating and filling sandbags days ahead of anticipated flooding from Tropical Storm Helene

Helene was heading toward the island of Cozumel off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as of the National Hurricane Center's 10 p.m. CDT advisory, with sustained winds increasing to 60 mph. The storm is projected to dump heavy rain and trigger possible mudslides across western Cuba while passing between the island and the Yucatan on Tuesday night.