Hurricane Helene inundated Tampa Bay with several feet of storm surge on its way to making landfall in Florida's Big Bend region.

The night before, after Hurricane Helene blew through the Tampa Bay area, many rescue calls had been made from the island. Two homes had caught on fire. Tampa’s mayor, Jane Castor, said she was stunned by how much of the island remained underwater early Friday when she flew over.

And while the South Florida area was spared from such destruction, many residents in parts of the Tampa Bay area 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.

Thanks to a massive barrier around Tampa General Hospital, it was business as usual as Hurricane Helene slammed into Florida.

Hurricane Helene, expected to make landfall as a major hurricane in Florida’s Big Bend region Thursday, could bring life-threatening storm surge to much of the state’s west coast. Federal forecasters have issued surge predictions in Tampa Bay higher than the region has seen in recent history.

Hurricane Helene hit Florida's Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph winds. So far, 22 fatalities have been reported. And while there has been widespread flooding, including the heavily populated cities of Tampa and St.

Though forecasters project Hurricane Helene to land far from Tampa Bay, experts predict storm surge in the region as high as 8 feet above ground. That could mean the highest surge levels the region has experienced in recent memory.