Helene is strengthening as it moves toward the U.S. Gulf Coast. It is expected to become a hurricane today and will hit Florida's Big Bend on Thursday.

The highest landfall probability is somewhere along the eastern part of the Florida Panhandle late Thursday evening, forecasters said.

Hurricane Helene formed Wednesday morning with the National Hurricane Center forecasting the storm to rapidly intensify in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and strike Florida as a major