Flood — Putnam, Florida

2024-10-09 · near Palatka Kay Arkin Ar, Putnam, Florida

Event narrative

At 10:30 am, law enforcement had to close State Road 20 in Palatka due to flooding. This is a major artery through the city.

A tropical disturbance over the southwest Gulf of Mexico quickly developed into Tropical Storm

Milton on Saturday, October 5th. Milton then moved slowly east-southeastward, strengthening into a

hurricane the following day. On Monday, October 7th, the storm underwent rapid intensification,

reaching Category 5 strength as it neared the northwestern coast of Mexico's Yucatn Peninsula. Late

on Monday and into Tuesday, Milton shifted eastward and then northeastward across the

southeastern Gulf of Mexico.

As Milton approached Florida's Gulf coast on Wednesday, October 9th, it began to gradually weaken,

but still maintained major hurricane status. The storm made landfall that evening near Siesta Key on

Florida's west coast as a strong Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

While it weakened further as it crossed central Florida overnight, Milton remained a hurricane. By

early Thursday morning, October 10th, it emerged off Florida's Atlantic coast as a Category 1 storm.

Milton caused widespread impacts across north-central and northeast Florida, as well as coastal

southeast Georgia. Flagler County, along with large portions of St. Johns, Putnam, and Marion

counties, experienced sustained tropical storm-force winds and hurricane-force gusts. Rainfall

amounts ranged from 7 to 11 inches as outer rainbands and the storm's powerful northern side

swept through these areas late Wednesday night into early Thursday morning.

This heavy rainfall caused Deep Creek, a tributary of the St. Johns River in St. Johns County, to reach

record levels on Thursday, October 10th, surpassing the previous record set during Hurricane Irma in

2017. This led to extensive flooding throughout the southern half of St. Johns County, particularly in

the Flagler Estates community and the towns of Hastings and Spuds. Additionally, record flooding was

observed along Haw Creek in western Flagler County, exceeding the previous record set in the

aftermath of Hurricane Ian in 2022.

Storm surge flooding of around 3 feet above Mean Higher High Water (MHHW) was recorded along

the St. Johns River and the northeast Florida coast. Significant inundation was reported along the

lower St. Johns River, with widespread flooding in areas such as Welaka, FL.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1213104. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.