Officials in Pinellas County said Sunday that the storm surge from what is now Hurricane Milton could be as high as 10 feet, nearly double the amount that residents on the barrier islands contended with from Hurricane Helene just a little over a week ago.

Less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene pushed the Gulf of Mexico into tens of thousands of living rooms along Florida’s west coast, a new storm is threatening a repeat. But this time, streets and yards and parks are filled with all of the detritus scraped from those flooded homes — fridges, cabinets, bookcases, drywall and lamps.

Tropical Storm Milton is threatening to grow into a major hurricane aimed at Florida’s Gulf Coast including Tampa, potentially causing billions of dollars in damage and heaping more misery on a state and region still reeling from Helene less than two weeks ago.