Tropical Storm — Union, Florida

2024-08-04 to 2024-08-05 · Union, Florida

Event narrative

Most of the county's impacts included wind damage and flooding. On 8/5, State Warning Point relayed that the City of Lake Butler reported an ongoing raw sewage release of approximately 3,000-4,000 gallons from the wastewater treatment plant due to a lightning strike on the generator. No storm drains or waterways were impacted. SW CR-231A in Lake Butler was closed due to large fallen trees along the road. 7.22 inches of rainfall was measured by a COOP observer at 3.6 NW Lake Butler during Debby. The EM reported that the WeatherStem station at the county courthouse in Lake Butler measured 9.99 inches of storm total rainfall and had a peak wind gust of 45 mph during Debby. On 8/4 at 7:40 PM, one of Debby's rainbands produced a severe tornadic thunderstorm. The tornado was rated an EF1 and touched down about a quarter of a mile south of State Road 238 and about a quarter mile east of Southwest County Road 241 and moved northwest towards Southwest 85th Path. The tornado produced EF1 tornado damage at 7:40 PM as it touched down south of State Road 238 by snapping the tree trunk of a large hardwood tree. The tornado proceeded northwest to homes along Southwest 85th Path, overturning a travel trailer, knocking down a wooden fence, and uprooting another hardwood tree. The tornado's last impact was tearing off the roof of a shed along Southwest 85th Path before it lifted. The tornado was on the ground for about 1 minute and was on the ground a distance of just under a quarter of a mile. The tornado had a maximum width of about 20 yards and had maximum winds up to about 93 mph.

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 1198841. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.