Hurricane Helene was barreling toward Florida’s Big Bend region on Wednesday night — and is expected to smash into the panhandle as a catastropic Category 4 storm on Thursday. 

The entire coast of Florida is under hurricane watch or warning and experts say Helene will likely be the most powerful storm to hit the US so far this year.

Helene, which officially reached hurricane-level force on Wednesday morning, is expected to bring winds of up to 130 mph over the next 36 hours, according to the National Hurricane Center. 

A deadly storm surge potentially as high as 20 feet has been forecast along some parts of the coast.

“Preparations to protect life and property from storm surge and damaging winds along the Florida Big Bend coast should be rushed to completion today,” the center warned.

Helene, which formed in the Caribbean Sea on Tuesday, is currently set slam into northeast coast of the Gulf of Mexico late Thursday after it rapidly increased in strength.

The greatest landfall probability is along the eastern part of the Florida Panhandle – including the big Bend area – which will experience storm surge, flooding rains, winds, the National Hurricane Center said.

“If it does make one as a category three storm, that would be the strongest storm this season to make a US landfall,” FOX Weather meteorologist Stephanie van Oppen told The Post.

“We’re looking at storm surge in the Big Bend of Florida region from 10 to 15 feet, which is extremely life threatening, and it’s going to be a pretty big storm,” she added.

“So the Tampa Bay region is even anticipating a storm surge of five to eight feet, even though they’re going to be well removed from the center of the storm.”

President Joe Biden already declared a federal state of emergency for the Sunshine State. On Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expanded a state of emergency declaration to 61 counties, CBS News reported.

As of Wednesday morning, all of Florida’s Gulf Coast was under state of emergency status.

There are also voluntary and mandatory evacuation orders in place in 13 counties.

The mandatory evacuation order included the University of Tampa, which ordered students to clear out by 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Residents in mobile homes, in particular, were urged to flee to more stable locations ahead of the storm.

“It is not safe [in mobile homes],” Florida Emergency Manager Kevin Guthrie said at a press conference, according to Florida Phoenix reporter Mitch Perry.

Helene is predicted to be especially large and fast-moving, meaning that storm surge, winds, and heavy rain will probably extend far from the storm’s center.

Georgia is also under a state of emergency, and states as far inland as Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee could experience Helene-related rainfall, CBS said.

Hal Summers of Mexico Beach told the outlet that he was taking extra precautions this time around after he and his parents both lost their homes in Hurricane Michael, the 2018 Category 5 storm that swept across the western Florida Panhandle.

“That was such a traumatic experience that that is not the place I needed to be for myself,” said Summers, who recalled wading through the rising storm surge while holding his cat above his head.

Helene is closing in as the Florida Big Bend is still recovering from a string of recent hurricanes.

Hurricane Debby hit the region as a Category 1 storm in early August, and recovery efforts are still underway and the area prepares for Helene’s impact.

Idalia, a Category 3 hurricane, hit Florida’s west coast last year and generated a record-breaking storm surge from Tampa up through the Big Bend.