Cities across both counties spent the early hours of Friday morning clearing debris from the storm's high winds. No significant flooding reported.

Helene is now a hurricane and is expected to bring life-threatening storm surge, damaging winds and flooding rains to a large portion of Florida and the southeastern United States, according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center.

Tropical storm force wind gusts, brief tornadoes, flooding rain could be possible through Thursday night, NWS states.

As powerful Hurricane Helene continued its on its track toward Florida’s Big Bend, many residents in Volusia and Flagler counties were ready for the storm’s effects. In Southeast Volusia County, where several communities have and continue to struggle with flooding problems, thousands took Helene’s threat seriously.

Here's a list of local restaurants in the Volusia-Flagler region that will be closed ahead of Hurricane Helene.

I only left my house once and that was for Andrew.” Santini was among a steady stream of DeLand residents that arrived Tuesday to take advantage of free sandbags provided by the city, as elsewhere other residents made a run on bottled water,

Forecasters expect conditions to start to deteriorate late Wednesday. Make final preparations now.