You know the drill, Tampa Bay.
Tropical Storm Helene is on its way, expected to strengthen into a hurricane today as it makes its way through the northeastern Gulf Coast and drenches Florida’s west coast, including Tampa Bay. We’ve rounded up resources to keep you safe during the storm.
Tracking Helene
Keep an eye on Helene’s progress through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Hurricane Center. Here, you’ll find current weather warnings and info on wind speeds, the storm surge, rainfall, and flash flooding. The key messages tool features the latest updates, too.
This graphic shows an approximate representation of coastal areas under a hurricane warning (red), hurricane watch (pink), tropical storm warning (blue) and tropical storm watch (yellow).
Map via National Hurricane Center
Preparing for Helene
Gov. Ron Desantis has placed Hillsborough, Pinellas, and 35+ other counties under a state of emergency during Helene. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor also issued an executive order and advised residents to prepare themselves for the storm.
Some tips:
- Tampa is offering up to 10 free sandbags to locals, available for pickup today, Sept. 25, 8 a.m.-7 p.m., at Himes Ave Complex, Al Barnes Park + Al Lopez Park. Bring your ID.
- St. Pete is offering sandbags from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. today at places like Dell Homes Park and the Lake Maggiore Park shelter area.
- Sign up for Alert Tampa, the city’s emergency alerts system, and Alert Pinellas if you’re in Pinellas County.
- Make a family plan + build a basic disaster supply kit.
- Counties have started issuing mandatory evacuations — more could be added as the storm progresses.
- Keep an eye on emergency shelters in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.
Outages
Keep Tampa Electric’s outage map handy and sign up for outage notifications. Duke Energy is also tracking outages via this map.
More emergency resources
Stay connected:
- Keep tabs on Tampa’s Reported Street Flooding — it’s best not to drive at all during the storm.
- American Red Cross: (863) 294-5941
- Citizens Information Line: (833) 872-4636
- United Way Information: 211 or (888) 370-7188
- NOAA Radio Broadcast Channels: 162.500 & 162.550 MHz
We’ll be keeping close watch on Helene and provide updates in our newsletters.
