A man secures with bolts a water barricade at a business ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Helene in Tarpon Springs, Florida, on September 25, 2024. Thousands of residents on September 25 began evacuating parts of coastal Florida as the US state braces for Hurricane Helene, forecast to barrel ashore as a powerful, potentially deadly storm. Helene strengthened into a hurricane mid-morning in the Gulf of Mexico and is "expected to bring life-threatening storm surge, damaging winds, and flooding rains to a large portion of Florida and the Southeastern United States," the National Hurricane Center in Miami said in its latest bulletin. (Photo by Ricardo ARDUENGO / AFP) (Photo by RICARDO ARDUENGO/AFP via Getty Images)