(The Center Square) – Atlanta is forecast to take the worst storm beating of a major inland city in the South since the first Bush administration.
Hurricane Helene’s expanse is forecast to only fall short of Opal (1995), Wilma (2005) and Irma (2017) from the Gulf since Hugo devastated Charlotte in 1989. The storm, likely making landfall Thursday evening in the Big Bend of Florida, is forecast to be a tropical storm when it centers over or near Georgia’s capital city.
At 2 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, Helene has maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, minimum pressure of 959 millibars, and was moving north-northeast at 16 mph. Its center is about 195 miles southwest of Tampa, about 230 miles south of Apalachicola, Fla…