Flash Flood — Osceola, Florida

2024-10-09 to 2024-10-10 · near Kissimmee, Osceola, Florida

Event narrative

Osceola County Emergency Management reported numerous flooded roadways, some impassable, due to heavy rainfall ahead of and during Hurricane Milton. The outer rainbands of Milton produced 3 to 6 inches of rain over a large portion of the county in the early to mid afternoon hours, before the center of the system brought a secondary bout of rainfall that produced an additional 4 to 6 inches of rain to Kissimmee, Celebration, and Poinciana. Here, the highest rainfall totals were realized with radar estimates exceeding 10 inches for the event.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Milton moved ashore the west-central Florida coast as a category 3 hurricane on Oct 9 around 1930EST. The system continued slowly in an east-northeast trajectory across central Florida, becoming a category 1 hurricane before emerging into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Canaveral. The outer rainbands of Milton overspread the Florida peninsula earlier in the day, leading to a prolific tornado outbreak across Okeechobee, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River, Osceola and Brevard counties with over 19 confirmed tornadoes within a 4-hour period. Milton's slow forward motion produced very heavy rainfall, with significant urban and street flooding particularly near and north of the center's track, as well as a significant river flood event along the St. Johns. Considerable tree damage and some structural damage occurred due to the system's tropical storm force winds, and hurricane force wind gusts, particularly near and north of the track of the center.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (28.3401, -81.3988)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1221448. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.