The weekend rain impacting Northeast Florida could push more water up along beaches and rivers.
The weather is causing some concern in Clay County, where the waters of Black Creek nearly submerged some homes after Hurricane Irma. Water crested at 28-and-a-half-feet, breaking the previous record of just over 24-feet set in 1923.
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Sunday at midday Clay County Emergency Management said no emergency actions are expected at this point, but urged residents to continue monitoring the creek and local media outlets.
Clay County Emergency Management Director John Ward said Thursday that neighborhoods that haven’t yet dried out are especially vulnerable to this latest onslaught of rain.
“We’re in what’s called an astronomical tide so the St. Johns River, the creeks and the estuaries are very high currently so if we start getting a nor’easter coming in, it could cause flooding in some of our already wet areas,” Ward said.
Ward says they’re keeping a close eye on places like northern Fleming Island, southern Orange Park and Williams Park south of Green Cove Springs.
“More is going on here than a possibility of a tropical storm may form,” said Florida Public Radio Emergency Network Meteorologist Jeff Huffman. “This area of low pressure will be squeezed by a really strong ridge of a high pressure to the north and that will send a persistent and strong onshore wind into the Atlantic Coast that may last for days.”
Ward urges all residents to pay attention to the weather and to sign up with the county’s emergency notification system at alert.claycountygov.com.
Contact reporter Cyd Hoskinson at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6354 and on Twitter @cydwjctnews.
