A residents tells the BBC her family had to swim out of home as floodwaters from Helene rose to their shoulders.

Hurricane Helene has eased to a Category 1 storm, but still poses a huge threat across 12 states. NBC News' Jay Gray reports from Tallahassee, Florida, where residents dodged a direct hit.

Fast-moving Hurricane Helene was advancing Thursday across the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida, threatening an “unsurvivable” storm surge in northwestern parts of the state as well as damaging winds, rains and flash floods hundreds of miles inland across much of the southeastern U.