Pinellas County’ elections supervisor is asking the state to grant her office greater flexibility in managing the upcoming elections as the county works to recover from the damage of Hurricane Helene.

Pinellas County Officials to provide updates on County operations and information for residents about Hurricane Helene's impact.

SUNSET BEACH, Fla. - Sunset Beach residents said they came back to a war zone after Hurricane Helene. "It’s like an apocalypse," Kandis Fernandez said. "People can’t comprehend how devastating this is."

Duke Energy Florida reported about 29,000 Pinellas County customers without power as of 5:15 p.m. And it might be a while before that number approaches zero. While Duke has said it’s working to restore power to homes and businesses that are structurally sound, the hardest-hit parts of the Pinellas beaches could endure outages well into October.

As Helene barreled its way through the Carolinas late last week, thousands of Duke Energy customers remained without power on Monday.

The Charlotte utility giant said damage from the storm is "unlike anything we have seen before in the Carolinas."

Florida’s death toll from Hurricane Helene, which left behind a trail of destruction from Florida though the Carolinas, stood at 13 as of Monday.

A new development on Florida’s coast was designed to be as hurricane-proof as possible. So far, it’s working. Last Thursday, when Hurricane Helene hit the small town of Cortez, Florida—about four hours south of the eye of the storm—a storm surge filled the streets with waist-deep water near a new development.