As the clock ticked closer to Helene’s landfall in Florida’s Big Bend, Michael Bobbitt made a pit stop at his white bungalow in the heart of Cedar Key, a small island community jutting perilously into the Gulf of Mexico.

Rain was falling there on Thursday morning, and the tides were beginning to rise. Mr. Bobbitt’s county, Levy, was already under mandatory evacuation orders.

But he had decided to stay to help the rescue and recovery efforts — whatever they may entail — alongside his friend Joey Larson, who had come up from his ranch in Odessa, a community some 70 miles south, near Tampa, to help with the effort.

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