The first indications of damage along Florida’s Gulf Coast from Helene’s storm surge were emerging Friday morning, hours after the storm made landfall as the most powerful ever to hit the state.
Storm surge from Helene, which the authorities have warned could be “unsurvivable,” was moving entire mobile homes in Steinhatchee, a coastal community where gauges recorded water levels of about 10 feet late Thursday, the National Weather Service said.
It was too early to know the full extent of the storm surge and the damage it had caused early Friday, in part because several gauges had stopped working, said Parks Camp, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Tallahassee. Water level recordings in Steinhatchee, for example, rose rapidly until the gauge stopped working just before midnight, he said.
But it was clear that Helene had broken storm surge records across Florida’s Gulf Coast, many of which were last set in August 2023 when Hurricane Idalia drenched the same area. The Alafia River, which flows into Tampa Bay, peaked at 9.4 feet shortly after midnight, nearly three feet above the record set last year.
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SKIP ADVERTISEMENTStorm surge — the rise in water levels caused by strong winds pushing ocean water ashore — is the leading cause of death from hurricanes, according to the National Hurricane Center. Rainfall, tides, waves and freshwater flow can contribute to the total rise in water level.
Sign up for Your Places: Extreme Weather. Get notified about extreme weather before it happens with custom alerts for places in the U.S. you choose. Get it sent to your inbox.The surges can happen rapidly, sometimes leaving no time to act for people in their path. Just six inches of fast-moving floodwater can knock over an adult, the center said. It takes two feet of rushing water to carry away most vehicles, including pickups and S.U.V.s.
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