Heavy storm surge from Helene made the streets of downtown Tampa resemble the open ocean – except at the base of Tampa General Hospital, which employed a special fence to keep the water out.

Tampa Bay area of Florida, particularly St. Petersburg, was hit hard by Hurricane Helene, which made landfall as a Category 4 storm Sept. 26, 2024.

The night before, after Hurricane Helene blew through the Tampa Bay area, many rescue calls had been made from the island. Two homes had caught on fire. Tampa’s mayor, Jane Castor, said she was stunned by how much of the island remained underwater early Friday when she flew over.

Massive Hurricane Helene crashed into Florida’s sparsely populated Big Bend region, bringing storm surge and high winds across the state’s Gulf Coast communities before ripping into southern Georgia

Tampa Bay’s regulars — our barkeeps, retirees, refugees — all had the same reaction this week in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, no matter what part of the region they call home. Surprise. Never seen it this bad.

Hurricane Helene, expected to make landfall as a major hurricane in Florida’s Big Bend region Thursday, could bring life-threatening storm surge to much of the state’s west coast. Federal forecasters have issued surge predictions in Tampa Bay higher than the region has seen in recent history.