Surviving the storm: A look back at 2024's wild hurricane season
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Most years we say it could happen here. In 2024, it did. The worst storms were Helene and Milton. Two storms just 13 days apart. They were very different hurricanes, devastating different parts of Tampa Bay.
Helene organized into a tropical storm on Sept. 25 and set a course that skirted Florida's west coast. By the next day, it was a category 4 hurricane just 100 miles off Pinellas County.
Florida lawmakers pass hurricane bill amid restriction fears
Just after 11 p.m., it made landfall near Perry, still a category 4 with punishing 140 mph winds — the strongest landfall in the Big Bend since record-keeping began.
Small communities like Cedar Key were battered with wind and 10 feet of surge. One in four homes in Cedar Key were destroyed.
With Helene's core so far offshore, many Tampa Bay residents were shocked as coastal communities were inundated by the highest surge in 100 years. As seen in the below image, several feet of water pushed into homes.
Helene ended up being the deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. since Katrina. Although most of its casualties were not in Florida.
As the storm swept into the Southeastern U.S., it delivered an astonishing amount of rain to the southern Appalachian Mountains. Up to 30 inches of rain slammed the mountains, triggering landslides that swept into the valleys, swelling rivers, and washing away entire communities.
Then, just days later, the next threat emerged: Hurricane Milton.
It started with a tropical depression on Oct. 5, then a hurricane on Oct. 6, rapidly intensifying to category 5 on Oct. 7.
Milton was one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin, and although it weakened as it approached Florida, it still made landfall as a major category 3.
Milton's landfall at Siesta Key around 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 9 followed tense hours of watching every wobble on the Max Defender 8 Wobble Tracker.
A slight jog to the north would have brought the storm's intense south-side winds into Tampa Bay, powering a worst-case-scenario surge event unlike anything we've experienced in centuries.
Instead, Milton went just far enough south for its winds to push water out of Tampa Bay. But the surge to the south was severe, reaching 10 feet at Manasota Key.
Milton's biggest impact on Tampa Bay was torrential rain and a prolonged flood event in Pinellas, Hillsborough, and especially along the Withlacoochee River.
In all, 27 people lost their lives to Hurricane Milton, all of them, in Florida.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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