Across St. Petersburg, stunning images emerged early Friday morning of flooding unlike previous storms. In Shore Acres, water levels had nearly reached stop signs; in downtown St. Petersburg, bay waters kissed The Vinoy; and in Gulfport, the small seaside town’s downtown was awash with debris from tidal flooding.

Record-setting storm surge and damage from high winds have caused significant damage across Florida’s Gulf Coast, from Tampa Bay northward.

The wait for Hurricane Helene’s landfall is over. Residents of Florida’s Big Bend region confronted a near-midnight landfall of the Category 4 storm late Thursday. By early Friday morning, nearly 1 million Floridians were without power.