A Look at Hurricane Helene From Inside Fox Weather

There was a calm before the storm inside of Fox Weather HQ early Thursday evening. Hours before Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm, the network’s team diligently prepared for the hours of coverage to come.

In a series of photos taken around 5 p.m. ET and shared with TVNewser, hurricane specialist Bryan Norcross and meteorologist Kendall Smith can be seen reporting on Helene’s path towards the Sunshine State.

“It’s eerie to see the life-threatening events that we talked about for days happen in real time,” Norcross observed to us via email as he watched conditions intensify. “The extraordinary storm surge heights and wind speeds that we warned about were suddenly occurring. We just hope that people take the warnings seriously.”

Those warnings certainly seemed to be heeded. By the time Helene touched down in Florida around midnight, many residents had left their homes and businesses. Reports of power outages, dangerous winds and flooding followed the storm’s landfall and continued as it swept into neighboring Georgia. As of now, the death toll stands at 41 across four states, including North Carolina and South Carolina.

Asked to describe the mood in the studio as images of Helene’s landfall rolled in, Smith recalls a “somber” feeling among the crew. “Our team knew the gravity of the situation and that the aftermath would be completely devastating,” she notes. “There was very much a sense of responsibility to keep the public as informed and safe as possible.”

Naturally, the other major networks also had their weather crews in action. NBC News stationed Tom Llamas in Tallahassee with additional correspondents assigned to other cities. NewsNation correspondents Brooke Shafer and Mills Hayes were also in Tallahassee as the storm approached.

The Fox Weather team spread out across the state, with Ian Oliver and Michael Estime reporting in from St. Petersburg, Robert Ray in Cross City, and Brandy Campbell in Tampa Bay. Oliver says that Helene changed conditions in his beachside location “very quickly,” with storm surge swallowing up 50 years of beach.

“We had a plan, but the surge did come in a little faster and earlier than expected,” he says about how he and his crew stayed safe. “We made sure to keep ourselves in a safe place, but had we left much later we would have had to find a higher spot on St. Petersburg Beach to shelter in place for the night.”

Oliver also notes that being a former Tampa Bay resident made his coverage “deeply personal.”

“We’ve talked about the vulnerability of this area to storm surge, but watching a record surge play out in real time was surreal,” he add. “My thoughts are with everyone assessing damage and starting the clean up and recovery process today.”

Meanwhile, 160 miles north of St. Petersburg and 20 miles from the Gulf, Ray and his team came up with inventive solutions to keep their equipment operational amidst heavy winds and rain.

“We positioned our camera and gear deep into an SUV and placed the vehicle so that the winds would be to our side so the gear could stay dry and we could keep a steady transmission,” he explains.

While he made it through the storm, Ray knows that the aftermath will be even more challenging.

“People on the coast in the Big Bend are reeling,” he notes. “The is the third hurricane to make landfall in one year there, and many have lost their businesses and homes. It’s a constant state of readiness for these storms and the fatigue is palpable.”