One person has died so far from Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in Taylor County around 11 p.m. on Thursday night as a Category 4 hurricane, Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference.

The person was driving on Interstate 4 near Ybor City in Tampa “when a sign fell onto the highway,” DeSantis said. The hurricane is sustaining winds up to 140 miles per hour.

“That just shows you that it’s very dangerous conditions out there,” DeSantis said. “You need to be right now just hunkering down.”

“When Floridians wake up tomorrow morning, we’re going to be waking up to a state where very likely there’s been additional loss of life,” DeSantis added.

DeSantis said that while the storm was making landfall in North Florida, Southwest Florida and Tampa Bay were both seeing “really significant amounts of (storm) surge.”

“There’s going to be streets that are flooded and will continue to flood all up and down the west coast of Florida,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis and Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie cautioned Floridians in the morning to not wade into standing water, to be careful when getting on ladders and to not use generators inside their house.

“The state is ready as soon as this storm passes and it’s safe to do so to commence search and rescue operations,” DeSantis said.

There are State Guard members, state troopers, local first responders and 3,500 National Guard members standing by for when the storm passes, DeSantis said. Tens of thousands of linemen are ready to deal with power restoration from companies like TECO, Duke Energy and Florida Power and Light. The Florida Department of Transportation will be focused on road clearing, inspecting bridges and pumping water out of flooded areas.

Anyone who needs non-emergency state assistance should call 1-800-342-3557.

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