Published Sept. 27|Updated Sept. 28Editor’s note: This story is a recap of Friday’s events. We will continue reporting on every angle of Tampa Bay’s road to recovery, so check back often to tampabay.com.On Friday, many around Tampa Bay awaited help as search and rescue teams worked to pull people from water-logged homes. Evacuees returned to survey the damage.By early Friday morning, nearly 1 million Floridians were without power. Outages remained for roughly 250,000 Tampa Bay residents well into late afternoon.At least seven people are reported dead, five in Pinellas County.Hurricane Helene unleashed record storm surge, with communities from St. Petersburg’s Shore Acres to the beaches to Tampa’s Davis Islands inundated with flood water. Businesses in Gulfport and Treasure Island were ravaged.Across the region, people repeated the same refrain: They’d never seen water so high.Residents of Florida’s Big Bend region confronted a near-midnight landfall of the Category 4 storm late Thursda...
