But we just got an updated surge map — and it shows the surge a lot worse than what we were predicting,” Pasco County Emergency Management Director Andy Fossa said.Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.

County emergency responders were expecting to find fatalities after a surge that reached 16 feet in some areas, significantly over the forecasted heights. Many coastal residents were caught off guard.

Florida state line as a Category 3 hurricane. Far to the east, Florida's Big Bend — where Hurricane Helene is expected to come ashore — never even felt tropical storm strength winds, but it was still hit with a mass of water that devasted coastal communities.

Hurricane Helene could come ashore in Florida as a dangerous Category 3 or 4 storm with a surge over 10 feet, bringing flooding inland. Follow live updates.

Officials issued dire warnings, pleading with residents in coastal areas along the hurricane's path to evacuate ahead of catastrophic winds and a potentially deadly storm surge, the wall of seawater pushed on land by hurricane-force winds,

By Rich McKay, Brendan O'Brien and Andrew Hay (Reuters) -Driving rain flooded roadways and closed airports in Florida as an intensifying Hurricane Helene marched toward the state's panhandle region, bringing the threat of a potentially deadly storm surge to much of the coastline.