LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A storm of another kind in northwest Florida this morning where Tropical Storm Helene has just come to shore. She's weakening, but she is soaking the panhandle this morning. Brian Cabell is out there in the mess. He joins us now live from Ft. Walton Beach, Florida -- Brian.</s>BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'll tell you right now, from our vantage point, Leon, this is not much of a mess. Helene is making landfall right now, but I would say we are at the ill-defined center of it. Take a look out here. We have some blue skies that are popping through and the winds have died down considerably in the last 30 minutes or so. I would say the winds are no more than 10 miles per hour along the beach, the waves maybe six-feet high. But take a look further down the beach. This is to the east, and that is where the heavy clouds are, that's where the rain is at this point. But, again, nothing terribly serious. In fact, I think you could say that it's not serious along the coast at all at this point. The communities made preparations last night. Schools have been canceled along the coast. A number of businesses have close down, at least for the morning. Airlines have closed down their flights at least for this morning, but that may change as we turn into afternoon. Military planes were evacuated from the area, but no major evacuations at all from the Gulf Coast except for some mobile home owners in low- lying areas. So, all in all, not a major evacuation here, and certainly not a major storm. As I say, we're at the center of it on right now. We'll probably get some more heavy rains a little later on. But at this point, we have a brisk day, 70 degrees, waves about six-feet high or so, and a nice pleasant day to walk along the beach, at least for now. I'm Brian Cabell, CNN, live in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida.</s>HARRIS: All right, thanks, Brian. The only surprise there is that there's no one out there surfacing now.
Tropical Storm Helene Weakens, Soaks Florida Panhandle