Residents of Tampa Bay have turned to social media for help after Hurricane Helene brought a significant storm surge and rainfall to the area, causing flooding.
Users are attempting to direct help and rescue efforts towards loved ones in need of assistance, trapped indoors or on roofs in the severe flooding the hurricane has caused.
Floodwaters from Hurricane #Helene rising fast in Fort Myers Beach, making roads impassable. 🚨 The Lee County Sheriff's Office now using swamp buggies to help rescue people.
— WanderVisions Lens (@wandervisions) September 27, 2024
How are you holding up? Let us know.
🌊 #StaySafe #HurricaneHelene #Florida
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"My parents are stuck on N Bayshore Drive, please can someone help or give me an update on what the surge is looking like? Will the water continue to rise?" wrote one woman on the Madeira Beach, Florida public group on Facebook.
Another woman posted about a disabled friend in need of assistance on the same Facebook group.
"Rescue needed!!!" she wrote. "My friend is disabled. He is in the house with his girlfriend. Last I spoke with him water was up to the windows in his 1 story house. I think his phone was losing the battery charge."
"My house is all flooded to the counter top of the kitchen and my son and my husband are inside. Hope goes down fast. They are sitting on the kitchen counters inside the house as I publish this . The picture was 2 hours ago.. my son is almost 6 feet tall." said one woman in the community in a comment on a post.
Pasco County Sheriff's Office reported that they received over 100 calls for rescue in the early hours of Friday morning. A couple of hours later, they reported that Pasco County was no longer under a hurricane warning.
"The Pasco Sheriff's Office is honored to serve and protect our community. We are grateful that water is receding along the US19 corridor and, with that, rescue calls for service have slowed," said the Sheriff's office in a statement posted to their Facebook page. "Approximately 200 people were rescued from rising water in Pasco County overnight in a joint partnership with Pasco County Fire Rescue, the National Guard and other law enforcement partners."
