Helene Hits The Southeast: Hurricane Helene made landfall on Florida's Big Bend coast last night (9/26) with winds of 140mph. While Tampa escaped direct impact, the area saw record-setting coastal flooding. "It's the worst storm surge I have ever seen, worse than anyone imagined it would be," says Beasley OM Rick Thomas, who adds the WQYK morning team had to wade through waist deep water to enter in the building. "We have a significant amount of people affected personally."

"This is the area I grew up in and I can say we’ve never seen it like this ... at least in my lifetime," says iHeartMedia WFUS PD Ashley Morrison. "Our goal now is just to keep our listeners informed as updates continue coming down with bridge and road closures, business closures and how to help our neighbors in need."

In Gainesville, Saga WOGK PD Mr. Bob says, "Our radio station escaped any damage. However, just to the west of us, they got pounded. Steinhatchee just took a direct hit from [Hurricane] Debby back in early August and Cedar Key had to rebuild several facilities after Debby. They both were hit hard."

Tallahassee escaped the worst of the storm. "It was just a rain event for us," says Adams WWOF PD Jason Taylor.

That rain event turned into flooding emergencies as the storm moved north over Georgia and into North Carolina this morning. In Asheville, NC, iHeartMedia WKSF has been in a cluster-wide simulcast with sister News-Talk WWNC-AM since this morning (9/27). In Atlanta, Cumulus WKHX, which is the flagship station for Westwood One's Kincaid & Dallas morning show, saw the duo split from their regular show to produce a local information-heavy version for Atlanta.