The entire coast of Florida is under various warnings from Tropical Storm Helene, which is expected to intensify rapidly into a hurricane and grow in size as it moves north along the state’s Gulf coast during the day Wednesday.

The Big Bend area buffers the coastline from Florida's capital city, Tallahassee, which is a little more than 20 miles from the Gulf Coast.

Forecasters say they expect Tropical Storm Helene in the Caribbean Sea to strengthen rapidly and become a hurricane as it moves north across the Gulf of Mexico toward the United States.