A Florida sheriff on Thursday admonished residents who were not heeding an evacuation order as Hurricane Helene raced toward the state, threatening to unleash what forecasters have described as an “unsurvivable” storm surge along Florida’s northwest coast.
“We’ve got a problem, and the problem is that way too many people in Zone A aren’t listening,” said Bob Gualtieri, the sheriff in Pinellas County, which encompasses Clearwater and St. Petersburg, in a Thursday morning news conference . “We’ve been out there this morning, there’s just way too many people in the area.”
Other local and state officials, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, warned residents to leave vulnerable areas before the massive storm unleashes a barrage of life-threatening conditions, including flooding rains and winds potentially as high as 131 to 155 mph Thursday night…