Atlanta On Alert: Hurricane Helene Expected To Reach Cat. 4, Forces Key MLB Games To Be Rescheduled As GA & FL Declare States Of Emergency

Major League Baseball has rescheduled two crucial late-season games between the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets as the now officially Cat. 1 Hurricane Helene barrels toward the Florida Gulf Coast and south Georgia. The two wild-card hopefuls instead will play a doubleheader Monday — one day before the MLB Playoffs start.

The hometown Braves are hosting the Mets for the three-game series featuring teams that are neck-and-neck for a playoff spot with just only a handful of games remaining on their schedules. The region is under a hurricane warning which, according to the National Weather Service means “hurricane conditions are expected.” Govs. Brian Kemp of Georgia and Ron DeSantis of Florida have declared a state of emergency.

Late this afternoon, the NWS updated its forecast for Helene, predicting the storm would reach Cat. 4 before making landfall. That means wind speeds from 130-156 mph and in some areas of the Eastern Panhandle a storm surge between 10-15 feet.

Rain was expected to start falling around gametime tonight at Atlanta’s open-air Truist Park, and there’s a 100 percent chance of rain at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, when the final game of the Braves-Mets series was scheduled to begin. MLB announcement the postponement of both games rather than move them to a neutral site, which has happened three times since 2008. The doubleheader will start at 1:10 p.m. ET Monday.

Both Florida MLB teams — the Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays — are playing out of town this week, and neither is in the playoff hunt.

The National Hurricane Center upgraded the potentially dangerous system from tropical-storm status Wednesday morning. Helene is expected to strengthen over the Gulf of Mexico and hit Florida’s Gulf Coast by late Thursday as a major hurricane with triple-digit sustained winds and a potentially life-threatening storm surge.

The biggest storm to make landfall in the U.S. in more than a year has the film and TV production hub of Atlanta, aka Hollywood South, in its cross-hairs. Hurricane-force winds are currently expected to extend as far as Macon, GA, which is about 85 miles south of Atlanta. That means Atlanta will likely see tropical storm force winds. Atlanta is also right on the edge of an area predicted to have high potential for flash flooding, per NWS charts.

Asked by Deadline early Wednesday whether there are any postponements of film or TV shoots, a rep for the Atlanta Film Office said, “Nothing that we are aware of at this time.”

Over in Orlando, Disney World also is preparing for Helene but has no immediate plans to close. “Walt Disney World Resort is currently operating under normal conditions,” the company said in a statement this morning. “We are closely monitoring the path of the storm as we continue to prioritize the safety of our Guests and Cast Members.”