Flood — Seminole, Florida

2022-09-28 to 2022-09-30 · near Bear Lake, Seminole, Florida

Event narrative

Rainfall totals averaging between 12 to 14 inches, with locally higher amounts of up to 16 inches were reported, resulting in widespread street, urban, and poor drainage flooding. County officials reported significant residential flooding in homes along both the Little and Big Econlockhatchee Rivers near Oviedo, as well as Howell and Gee Creeks in Winter Springs. An on-site survey, combined with county areal photography, confirmed major flooding along the Little Wekiva River, with water entering numerous homes along Little Wekiva Rd. in the Spring Oaks subdivision of Altamonte Springs. See separate entry for details on the significant (flash) flooding event which affected the Spring Oaks subdivision along the Little Wekiva River.

Widespread inundation occurred along the shores of the St. Johns River and its associated lakes in Seminole County. Lake Harney, where the river crested at a record stage of 12.7 ft. on Oct. 3, flooded numerous structures including the Jolly Gator Fish Camp and homes along Prevatt Rd., Lake Harney Cir., Fort Lane Rd., and Whitcomb Dr. Flooding was reported in communities adjacent to the river near Mullet Lake and north of SR-46 in Geneva. A portion of SR-46, between S. Jungle Rd. and Hatbill Rd., was closed from Oct. 2 - 22. Additional flooding of structures was reported on the south end of Lake Jesup on Lake St. near Overlook Park, as well as in the Black Hammock Community in Oviedo. Further downstream, at Lake Monroe, widespread inundation occurred along the Sanford Waterfront on Seminole Blvd., including residential areas to the east between Mellonville Ave. and Crescent Blvd. More homes were flooded in a community west of the Interstate 4 and US-17 bridges between Missouri Ave. and Canal Dr., as well as along Michigan Ave. near the Black Bear Wilderness Area. The river at Sanford crested at a record stage of 8.96 ft. on Oct. 9th.

A countywide damage assessment indicated 3058 structures affected, 580 with minor damage, 1076 with major damage, and 2 destroyed, mainly due to widespread and historic flooding. The combined effects of Ian led to a total estimated damage of approximately $241M.

Wider weather episode

After making landfall as a major hurricane in southwest Florida near Cayo Costa, Ian crossed the peninsula and into east central Florida (southern Osceola County) as a Category 1 Hurricane with estimated maximum sustained winds of 75 mph. The system was downgraded to a tropical storm shortly thereafter and emerged into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Canaveral. Ian's slow movement and large wind field led to a long period of tropical storm force winds across all of east central Florida, as well as hurricane force gusts in squalls and historic rainfall and flooding across parts of the area. Widespread rainfall totals of 4 to 8 inches were reported throughout the area, with a corridor of 10 to 20 inches across Osceola, Orange, Seminole, Volusia, and northern Brevard counties. The maximum observed rainfall total was 21.09 inches in Spruce Creek, Volusia County. The St. Johns River experienced historic rises with record crests set at Astor, Deland, Sanford, and Lake Harney in the days and weeks following Ian's heavy rainfall. A tornado briefly touched down and crossed US-192 in rural Brevard County with no damage to structures reported. Persistent onshore flow before and during the storm led to water level rises (storm surge) of 1-3 feet along the east central Florida, bringing moderate to severe beach erosion, with the most significant effects noted in Volusia County. Collectively, the effects of Hurricane Ian led to 15 storm-related fatalities (6 direct and 9 indirect) and between $800-900M in property damage across east central Florida.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (28.6479, -81.4181)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1058319. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.