Tropical Storm — Union, Florida

2023-08-30 · Union, Florida

Event narrative

Tropical cyclone winds impacted the county on 8/30. At 0800, a mesonet station in Lake Butler measured

wind gusts of 41 mph. At 0910, the same station measured a wind gust of 48 mph. At the same time,

another mesonet station also in Lake Butler measured a wind gust of 47 mph. At 0958, county emergency

management (EM) stated a tree was blown down through a residence at 9219 NW 106th Loop. Residents

were trapped inside and being extricated. At 1027, county EM reported multiple power lines were blown

down across central, southern and western tiers of the county. About 45% of the residents were without

power at the time. At 1029, the EM reported a tree fell onto a home at 9911 SE 8th Court in Lake Butler.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning August 30th around 745 AM EDT along the

Florida Big Bend near Keaton Beach as a category 3, with the inner core moving NE across the

Suwannee River Valley. The inner wind core of Idalia gradually weakened through the morning while,

heavily impacting Suwannee and Hamilton counties in NE Florida and Echols county SE Georgia as the

circulation tracked NE. Widespread tree, power line and structure damage occurred across Suwannee and Hamilton counties, with estimated winds of 80-100 mph based on damage surveys with isolated pockets of peak wind gusts near major hurricane strength. Outer rainbands on the eastside of Idalia

impacted all of SE Georgia and NE FL through the day, with early morning tornadoes across coastal SE Georgia and widespread tropical cyclone wind gusts through the day causing tree damage and powerline damage at least somewhere across NE Florida and SE Georgia. Measured gusts during the peak of the hurricane across the local forecast area were 60-80 mph. Flooding rainfall impacted locations in the direct path of the weakening inner core across the Suwannee River Valley and southeast Georgia,

especially from eastern Hamilton county toward Baxley and Jesup GA. The peak rainfall amounts were up to 5-8 inches. At least 3 tornadoes occurred in southeast GA as rainbands swept northwestward ahead of the hurricane.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1127290. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.