Tropical Storm — Eastern Alachua, Florida

2024-08-04 to 2024-08-05 · Eastern Alachua, Florida

Event narrative

Multiple road closures were reported due to downed trees and powerlines across roadways. Measured gusts ranged from 40-54 mph between 2 am on 8/5 through 7 am on 8/5. Wind damage started to impact the county during the evening of 8/4. At 8 pm local time, a tree was blown down near NW 43rd Street in Gainesville. By 9:13 pm local time, all lines of State Road 24 in Gainesville had to be closed due to a downed tree. Fallen trees were also reported blocking all lanes along SR-222. Fallen trees and downed power lines were also reported across the University of Florida campus. In Gainesville and Alachua, a number of homes suffered minor to major damage due to flooding, and several trees fell onto homes. On 8/5 at 8:11 am EDT, State Warning Point relayed a report that there was damage to a residence in Alachua due to a tree of unknown size that destroyed the home, but with no injuries. About 8.75 inches of rainfall was measured by a CoCoRaHS observer at Brooker 1.6 SW during Debby. On the University of Florida campus, the EM relayed that there were several trees blown down, minor roadway flooding at times and water flooded into a few buildings. The WeatherStem on campus measured 7.19 inches of storm total rainfall and the highest wind gust was 54 mph during the early morning hours of 8/5. At the Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville, the EM reported significant water damage was reported at several campus buildings and downed tree limbs and wires were blown down.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Debby made landfall as a Category 1 storm along the FL Big Bend coast during the early morning of August 5, 2024. Prior to landfall, outer convective bands produced tornadoes across portions of northeast Florida on August 4th. Widespread flooding moved inland with Debby across the Suwannee River Valley and inland Southeast Georgia where flash flooding and moderate to major river flooding occurred.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1198828. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.