Jeff Berardelli is WFLA Chief Meteorologist and Climate Specialist
Tampa, Fla. (WFLA) – Most years say it can happen here. In 2024, it did. The worst storms were Helen and Milton. Two storms in just 13 days. They were very different hurricanes, devastating different parts of Tampa Bay.
Helen was sorted into a tropical storm on September 25th and set up a skirting course across Florida’s west coast. By the next day it was a Category 4 hurricane just 100 miles from Pinellas County.
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We landed near Perry just after 11pm. This is Category 4, which punishes winds of 140 mph, and is a big, twisty landing since record keeping began.
Small communities like Cedarkey were abused with wind and 10 feet of surges. One was destroyed in four houses in Cedar Key.
Helen’s core is offshore so far, and many Tampa Bay residents were shocked as coastal communities were flooded by the highest surge in 100 years. A few feet of water was shoved into the house as you can see in the image below.
Helen has become the deadliest hurricane that has hit the United States since Katrina. Although most of the victims were not in Florida.
When the storm was infused into the southeastern United States, it poured an incredible amount of rain on the mountains of South Appalachia. Up to 30 inches of rain slammed the mountains, causing landslides blown into the valley, inflated the river and washed away the entire community.
Then, a few days later, the following threat appeared: Hurricane Milton.
It began with tropical depression on October 5th, then with a hurricane on October 6th, and rapidly strengthened to Category 5 on October 7th.
Milton was one of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin, weakening as he approached Florida, but still landed as a major Category 3.
On October 9th, around 8:30pm, Milton’s landing in Siesta Key was nervous when he saw all the wobbles of the Max Defender 8 Wobble Tracker.
A slight jog north brought stormy south winds to Tampa Bay, unlike anything we’ve experienced over the centuries, perhaps making full use of the worst Senario surge events.
Instead, Milton went south enough for the wind to push the water out of Tampa Bay. However, the surge to the south was severe, reaching 10 feet at Manasota keys.
Milton’s biggest impact on Tampa Bay was heavy rain and long-term flood events along the Pinellas of Hillsboro, particularly along the Withrackuch River.
Overall, 27 people lost Hurricane Milton’s life in Florida.
