Flash Flood — Osceola, Florida

2022-09-29 · near Peghorn, Osceola, Florida

Event narrative

Flash flooding affected many locations within Osceola County due to 8-12 inches of rain, which occurred primarily over a 12-18 hour period. Numerous roadways were flooded and became impassible. Emergency Management officials indicated several water rescues along area roadways and within residential communities in St. Cloud due to standing water in excess of three feet in depth. Florida Highway Patrol reported a full closure of the Florida Turnpike between Mile Marker's 254-267 near St. Cloud due to standing water on both sides of the highway.

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 → (28.2603, -81.3187)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1058496. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.