Hurricane Helene was deadly as it moved north in the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall in Florida.
A sign fell on a car killing one person on Interstate 4 in Tampa and a tree fell on a home killing another in Dixie County. There was flooding in Tampa, Sarasota, St. Pete, and Bradenton. There were millions without power. Debris blocked roadways. Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency.
“To have something that was even bigger than those two storms causing a lot of damage, I think it’s a sense of trauma for the community,” DeSantis said. “It’s demoralizing because, it’s like, we worked on this, and now we could be potentially worse off than we were before.”
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In Perry, Hurricane Idalia destroyed Potter’s House Ministries, a nondenominational church at 461 North Byron Butler Parkway, and Hurricane Helene damaged the renovated one.
On Friday, Kevin Guthrie, the executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, warned the storm left enough hazards to make cleanup dangerous. Jared Perdue, the Florida Department of Transportation secretary said some of the causeways were underwater.
“Just make sure you are being safe if you’re out there,” Guthrie said during a news conference. “These are all preventable deaths and injuries. We can 100% prevent that.”
Related content: Watch videos of Helene’s flooding in Florida
Related content: View photos of Helene’s aftermath in Florida, Georgia
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Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editor Mercedes Cevallos and The Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this report.