In fall 2024, Tampa and other Florida cities on the Gulf coast were hit by hurricanes Helene and Milton within 13 days of each other. Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images While visiting family in St. Petersburg, Florida, in November 2024, I found myself walking down a quiet residential street in Shore Acres, a low-lying, bayfront neighborhood not far from where I grew up. Two months earlier, Hurricane Helene had sent several feet of water into homes here, even though the center of the storm had st