Tallahassee, United States (AFP) – Hurricane Helene was downgraded to a “strong” Category 2 hurricane on Friday, hours after it slammed into the southeastern US coast as a Category 4 storm, US forecasters said.

“Hurricane Helene is now a strong category 2 hurricane,” the National Weather Service in Florida’s capital Tallahassee posted on X, after the latest National Hurricane Center bulletin put maximum sustained windspeeds caused by the storm at 110 miles (175 kilometres) per hour, downgrading it on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale.

sw/cwl

© Agence France-Presse

Featured image credit: kjpargeter | Freepik

Fire globe - abstract (s. climate, temperatures, forever chemicals, wildfires)
Thousands battle Greece fires as heatwave bakes EuropeNews

Thousands battle Greece fires as heatwave bakes Europe

Patras, Greece | AFP Greece on Wednesday battled to contain more than 20 wildfires including one menacing its third-largest city Patras as a heatwave stoked blazes…
SourceSourceAugust 13, 2025 Full article
Image
Why health and price, not sustainability, drive US meat consumption choicesNewsScience

Why health and price, not sustainability, drive US meat consumption choices

Rutgers University - Environmental sustainability isn’t a major factor influencing meat consumption decisions for most Americans, despite increasing awareness of the climate impacts of red…
SourceSourceNovember 8, 2024 Full article
Image: green coral reef - Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia
Great Barrier Reef at risk of ‘collapse’, scientists warnNews

Great Barrier Reef at risk of ‘collapse’, scientists warn

Auckland, New Zealand | AFP | Muser NewsDesk Australia's Great Barrier Reef is at a very high risk of extreme and widespread bleaching and "ecosystem collapse"…
SourceSourceJuly 21, 2026 Full article