As forecasters predicted, a menacing storm surge of more than 5 feet from a distant Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc with many areas of the Tampa Bay area Thursday.
The “extremely dangerous” Category 4 slammed into Florida’s Big Bend area Thursday night with winds of more than 130 mph. Officials expected to find catastrophic damage at daybreak.
And while the Tampa Bay area was spared from such destruction, many residents were surprised by the water whipping over seawalls and flooding coastal areas. The surge began when the center of Helene was still hundreds of miles away.
LIVE BLOG: The latest news on Hurricane Helene
In the northeast part of the St. Petersburg, the oft-flooded neighborhoods of Snell Isles, Shore Acres, Coquina Key, Venetian Isles and Weedon Island were covered by bay waters by midday. The flooding was expected to last into the weekend, and the area was closed to nonresidents.
“Please don't drive around to look for damage or to site see or to see the flooding. This is for your safety and the safety of our first responders,” said Mayor Ken Welch, who called the surge unprecedented for city. “I say this so residents can understand just how serious this storm is.”
Even more disconcerting, Welch said if the surge in that area rises past 7 feet, the Northeast Water Reclamation facility may need to close, which means no water service for some customers north of 30th Avenue North and east of Haines Road. It will likely take a minimum of 48 hours to get the plant back online.
If the plant is shut down, the city is telling residents:
- Do not drain water in the home. You will have running water, but do not let it go down the drain because it will back up the sewer system.
- Fill up water bottles and brush your teeth outside or over a container.
- Do not flush toilets, or use the shower or bathtub.
- Do not run the dishwasher or washing machine.
Flooding along St. Pete Beach
On the Gulf side of Pinellas County, intersections in St. Pete Beach were underwater by the afternoon.
“Some trucks that try to make their way through. You know, they're making it through, but it's definitely water going up to their grills. I would not want to be in a sedan going through those streets,” Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said. “The waves are really rough, nothing like the typical calm blue waters we see on the Gulf Coast.”
Barrier islands up and down the west coast were evacuated and closed to traffic.
In Pasco County to the north, complete inundation was expected west of U.S. 19 with a surge of more than 9 feet, and areas east of the highway were under threat as well, county emergency management director Andrew Fossa said.
Fossa and other officials remained frustrated of people who refused to evacuate from coastal areas.
“Some folks did tell me they're sticking around,” Gualtieri said. “And they said, ‘We live in condos higher above the water, so we don't feel like we need to leave.’ And you know, I've heard differently from emergency officials.
“At the worst of this, first responders can't get through that no matter what boat or high-rise vehicle they have. That is just too dangerous. And so for people who have stayed behind and ignored the evacuation orders, if you panic a few hours in, as your house starts flooding and you try and get in your car and leave, you're going to get stuck, and no one is going to be able to come get you for a while.”
Gualtieri said first responders plan to do damage assessment Friday morning, when they will try to clear roads.
“But you have to help us help you. We can't do our job (if) you all are in the way and we have to do a whole bunch of rescues,” he said.
On Thursday evening, St. Petersburg said it was already receiving calls about high-water rescues.
Unprecedented storm surge expected
Storm surge is the level at which sea water rises above its normal level and moves inland from the coastline. It also entails the level above normal tide, so a 10-foot surge at high tide will push water far more inland than at low tide.
“This storm surge is something we have not seen in at least my almost 40 years that I've been with this company and here in St. Petersburg,” Duke Energy state president Melissa Seixas said.
Bob Weisberg, a professor emerita of oceanography at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science, said the surge should peak late Thursday night or early Friday.
Weisberg's USF colleagues developed models that show one silver lining for the Tampa Bay area.
“The good news is that given the projected speed at which the storm is moving and when surge will peak here, it, it's going to coincide, more or less, with low tide,” he said. “So, we luck out in that regard."
WUSF’s Ari Angelo, Steve Newborn, Stephanie Colombini, Gabriella Paul, Mark Schreiner, Carl Lisciandrello and Rick Mayer contributed to this report.
