From Treasure Island to Tampa’s Channel District, bars and restaurants stayed open into Thursday evening. Here’s why, business owners said.

Monday morning, roughly three days after the Tampa Bay region felt the historic punch of Hurricane Helene as it charged up the Gulf Coast, tens of thousands of local residents still had no electricity.

The Minnicks returned to their North East Park home to find their gray floors covered in inches of water, tinged yellow. The smell was undeniable. “No question, that’s sewage water,” said Craig Minnick,