Helene becomes a powerful category 3 hurricane.

Helene became a category 3 hurricane on the afternoon of this Thursday as it traveled through the Gulf of Mexico towards the northern coast of Florida.

At 2:25 p.m. (local time), the hurricane hunters from the Air Force identified maximum sustained winds of 195 km/h. The phenomenon has increased its translational speed to 32 km/h.

A recent publication from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned about the considerable increase in winds along the west coast of the state.

Helene, which reached Category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson scale on the morning of this Thursday, will continue to strengthen over the warm waters of the Gulf before making landfall tonight in the Big Bend area of Florida.

Helene, which struck the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico and the western part of Cuba on Wednesday, is heading towards Florida as a devastating storm.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), catastrophic storm surges are likely along the Big Bend coast, where flooding could reach up to 20 feet above ground level.