Flooded Florida Home Engulfed In Flames During Hurricane Helene Storm Surge

Helene has weakened to a tropical storm after battering Florida's Gulf Coast as a powerful hurricane Thursday night, but heavy rain and flood impacts are still expected across Georgia and the Carolinas as millions are without power.

Hurricane Helene made landfall at 11:10 p.m. Thursday in the Big Bend region of Florida, on the Gulf Coast where the peninsula meets the panhandle, as a Category 4 storm with estimated maximum sustained winds of 140 mph. It quickly weakened after making landfall, but dangerous storm surge and flooding was expected to continue into Friday.

The City of South Pasadena, on the coast just west of St. Petersburg, shared a video shortly before midnight showing a residence fully engulfed in flames even as it was flooded by multiple feet of water. The city was under mandatory evacuation orders.

The video shows the South Pasadena Fire Department and the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office conducting water rescue efforts in small boats in a flooded neighborhood where a large residential fire can be seen over the water. First responders also encountered "large objects including dumpsters moving through floodwaters," the city said.

The National Weather Service and local officials are warning residents to stay out of floodwaters, which can contain sewage, dangerous chemicals, and debris.