At 11:10 pm on Thursday night, Category 4 Hurricane Helene made landfall in Perry, Florida. Perry is only 38 miles away from Steinhatchee, where Category 1 Debby came ashore last month, and 30 miles from Keaton Beach, where Category 3 Idalia struck in August of 2023.
That’s three hurricanes in 13 months. Talk about an unlucky 100 mile stretch of coastline.
While Florida’s Big Bend took the brunt of Helene’s fury (with a storm surge of 12-15 feet in some areas), her impacts stretched far and wide, with 100+ mph winds and major flooding reported as far inland as North Carolina and Tennessee. In Keaton Beach, Florida, helicopter footage shows homes leveled, flooded, and in some cases, both. Photos and videos coming out of Cedar Key to the southeast are equally as devastating.
Hundreds of miles away on Florida’s Gulf Coast, in Indian Rocks Beach, many more homes took on significant water. Major flooding is also being reported in Atlanta, Georgia, western North Carolina and Tennessee.
According to the Associated Press, 52 people are confirmed dead across 5 states, with Helene causing an estimated 15 to 26 billion in property damage. Just a terribly devastating storm for a huge portion of the southeast.
West Florida, Alabama, and Florida’s east coast were spared from Helene’s wrath, and each zone enjoyed a few hours of good to epic surf before and after Helene made landfall. In fact, a certain spot in Alabama was all-time for a few hours on Friday afternoon, looking more like a beachbreak in Australia than a wave in a state known mostly for college football and frat parties.
Of course, as we already mentioned, every surfer that scored would happily give every barrel back if it meant sparing lives and property. But since we can’t, 10 bucks per tube donated to Helene’s early relief efforts seems like a fair place to start, yeah?
Related: Florida’s Big Bend Bracing for Impact From Category 4 Hurricane Helene