Update from Sinai Residences President & CEO
Palm Beach County is under a tropical storm warning and flood watch. A tornado watch is in effect for Palm Beach County until 8 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 26. Hurricane Helene is now a Category 2 storm on the Gulf Coast of Florida.
According to the 8 a.m. update from the National Hurricane Center, Helene has strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph, moving north-northeast at 12 mph. Helene is expected to further strengthen into a Category 3 hurricane before making landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region at approximately 9 p.m. Thursday with 130 mph winds.
In addition to the tropical storm warning, our area is under a flood watch and tornado warning. Some very heavy rainfall is expected at times as feeder bands roll on through. The center of the storm will stay roughly 300 miles to the west of West Palm Beach.
Our area has the potential to feel impacts from Helene on Thursday and Friday. Helene’s outer bands will bring the threat of severe weather, gusty winds, and heavy downpours. However, the heaviest rain will likely stay on the western side of Lake Okeechobee and toward the west coast of Florida.
The outer rain bands may spin up a tornado locally and possibly produce two to five inches of rain. Even though Helene will stay roughly 300 miles to our west, the winds can still kick up locally between 40 to 50 mph. That means we have a chance of tornadoes developing in the afternoon and evening, even if the weather looks clear outside.
We encourage all residents to remain indoors today due to the weather conditions.
As a reminder, our community was built with state-of-the-art construction to withstand a Category 5+ hurricane and all windows have impact glass. Additionally, Sinai Residences has incredible generator power that supports 100% of all operations in the event of a power outage and we are fully staffed.
For Friday, a lot of tropical moisture will continue to move across South Florida. It won’t be as windy, but still quite breezy.
Sincerely,
| Rachel Blumberg Sinai Residences President and Chief Executive Officer |
