Ariel Lopez and his wife, Tiffany, thought Helene would be like Hurricane Idalia, which brought about four inches of storm surge into their home in Shore Acres, a flood-prone neighborhood of St. Petersburg.

“We figured, we can handle that,” Ms. Lopez said. “But it turned out to be four feet.”

The couple and their four children who live with them had prepared for the storm, putting up water barriers and buying two paddle boards that they could perhaps use to evacuate in a worst-case scenario.

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