Hurricane Helene was upgraded to a Category 2 storm Thursday and expected to grow even stronger before making landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region on Thursday evening. Nearly 300 miles of the Florida coastline — from Mexico Beach in the Panhandle to the Anclote River just north of Tampa — was under a hurricane warning.

Helene became a major Category 3 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico as it churns toward Florida.Forecasters say it threatens an “unsurvivable” storm surge in parts of northwestern Florida, as well as damaging winds,