A residents tells the BBC her family had to swim out of home as floodwaters from Helene rose to their shoulders.

Hurricane Helene intensified into a major Category 3 hurricane on Thursday with 120 mph sustained winds, with the National Hurricane Center predicting it will grow further bringing devastation to Florida’s Gulf Coast and inland toward Tallahassee.

Hurricane Helene has made landfall into Florida's Big Bend region as a catastrophic storm, lashing the region with devastating wind and a "unsurvivable" storm surge. At least two deaths were directly connected to the hurricane in Georgia.