When a major hurricane hits, it is often the storm surge — the sea or gulf water driven ashore by winds — that poses the greatest threat to people’s lives and livelihoods. The storm surge that will accompany Hurricane Helene is expected to peak on Thursday night.

As Hurricane Helene swept through Northern Florida, residents across the Big Bend area are grappling with widespread damage caused by a massive storm surge.

The Florida Big Bend, a particular slice of the state’s northwestern coast where Florida’s panhandle region begins to curve around the Gulf of Mexico and transition into the state’s distinct peninsula, was already being hit with Helene’s “outer rainbands” early Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service.