Lowest State in the Country Prepares for Very High Storm Surge

Florida is the 22nd-largest state by area, but has the lowest highest point of any state — a measly 345 feet above sea level. It is an unfortunate joke of American geography that the flattest, most porous piece of real estate is also the one sticking out into the likely path of a few hurricanes every year. Which is all to say: Helene is coming.

Per the National Hurricane Center’s latest update on what is still called tropical cyclone nine as of Tuesday morning but will soon form into a tropical storm and then likely a major hurricane named Helene: “the potential for life-threatening storm surge and damaging hurricane-force winds along the coast of the Florida panhandle and the Florida west gulf coast is increasing.”

Though the precise track can of course wobble a bit before a likely landfall on Thursday evening, the storm appears poised to make a sharp right turn at the Yucatan peninsula and then make a beeline past the western edge of Cuba and toward Florida’s armpit. And the storm surge it will bring to that stretch of coastline is daunting:

That path is very similar to that of 2023’s hurricane Idalia, which caused billions of dollars in damage; storm surge in Cedar Key, Florida set a record of about 10.5 feet. Of course, we know what records mean these days.