With the worst of Hurricane Helene yet to impact the Tampa Bay region early Thursday, area school districts announced they would remain closed on Friday. Officials said the extra time off will allow them to clear campuses that have been used as evacuation shelters,and to assess and fix storm damage.

Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater will experience hurricane-force winds and catastrophic storm surge due to the storm’s huge wind field, despite being far from the forecast landfall region.