Helene has strengthened into a hurricane with forecasters warning that the storm would intensify as it crosses the Gulf of Mexico on a path to Florida.

By Rich McKay and Brendan O'Brien (Reuters) -Powerful storm Helene officially became a hurricane on Wednesday morning, the National Hurricane Center said, packing maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph) as it churned in the eastern Gulf of Mexico just off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula.