Jefferson County

In the week after Hurricane Helene, interviews with out-of-state college students across Florida show how little prepared they were for a storm like Hurricane Helene. For many, this was their first experience with a Category 4 hurricane.

For peanut farmers, harvest season has always been hurricane season. But more intense storms and rising costs are making it harder for producers to recover. Helene is the third hurricane to hit the area in 13 months.

Despite evacuation orders in 16 Florida counties, some residents say they are riding out the storm, either out of convenience or because they're convinced Helene will swerve.

Florida braced for damaging winds, a storm surge that could reach 18 feet in places along the Gulf Coast and flooding rains as Helene officially became a hurricane on Wednesday headed toward the Sunshine State.

Brian Brainard Wedgeworth, 46, swindled Johnson of thousands of dollars in 2017, federal prosecutors said. A grand jury indicted him in October, and he was arrested in Nashville shortly afterward.

"We could all serve to be more like Mike Joyner," said Levy County Commission Chairman John Meeks, a friend and colleague of Joyner's.