As Helene approaches Florida’s Gulf coastcitizens from the Tampa Bay area watch closely as meteorologists do their best to predict the storm’s path into the Sunshine State.
Despite early predictions suggesting the storm will wreak havoc in Tampa, everyone in the area is confident that their city is safe from the storm thanks to a Native American blessing that’s protected the city from hurricanes for over 100 years.
According to the legend, the Native American tribe Tocobaga built burial mounds all across the Tampa Bay area, the largest one resting in what is now known as Safety Harbor in Florida, just 30 minutes from Tampa.
While Florida’s Gulf Coast has seen its fair share of hurricanes over the last hundred years, the Tampa Bay area has largely been spared.
Though there have been recent close calls, with a weakened Hurricane Irma putting the legend to the test in 2017, according to AccuWeather’s Chief Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski, it wasn’t technically a direct hit. “The Tampa International Airport is 25 miles (from where Irma’s center was),” Kottlowski has explainedbut in order to be considered a direct hit, “passes to within a distance equal to the cyclone’s radius of maximum wind,” which was 23 miles for Irma, sparing Tampa from a direct hit by just two miles.
Accuweather
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Early forecasts predicted Helene’s path would greatly impact the Tampa area. However, many residents have previously scoffed at the idea of a hurricane hitting Tampa. In the TikTok videoa man named David explained the genuine sentiment among the locals in the area and why they’re so confident that any storm that comes near them will simply veer off course.
“If you’re from the Tampa Bay area, you already understand what I’m about to tell everyone, so you can keep on scrolling,” he starts his video. “There have been ancient spirits that have blessed this land, and the hurricanes will always veer north or south of us, never hit us right on.”
His prediction was that the storm would veer north and make landfall around the panhandle, but made sure to say in the comments that everyone should still make preparations. “It’s all in good fun, anyone who takes these myths ‘seriously’ and doesn’t prepare is making a huge mistake,” he says. “Stay safe!”
But if David wasn’t enough to convince you, AccuWeather interviewed the executive director of the St. Petersburg Museum of History, Rui Farias, who said pretty much the same thing. “That has been our story for nearly a hundred years now. That the hurricanes are heading right for us and just veer off course.”
Whether or not he actually believes it is a different story, but the credibility surrounding the myth continued to grow as the years passed by. “A lot of people say it’s the Indian mounds,” Farias replied. “But I don’t know.” He added, “I like to believe those things are true, I love that story.”
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In fact, as the storm makes its way closer to the U.S., at the time of writing this, ABC’s Helene Storm Tracker predicts the storm making landfall in the Big Bend area of Flordia, north of Tampa toward the panhandle.
However, a hurricane warning has been issued to cities all across the Gulf Coast.
Helene is forecasted to be a major hurricane by the time it makes landfall Thursday night, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned Monday. A state of emergency has been declared in 61 of Florida’s 67 counties, DeSantis said. A Hurricane Watch and Storm Surge Warning remains in effect for the Tampa area.
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Isaac Serna-Diez is an editor and writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics.
