Flash Flood — Lake, Florida

2024-10-09 to 2024-10-10 · near Whitney, Lake, Florida

Event narrative

The outer rainbands of Hurricane Milton impacted Lake County initially during the mid to late afternoon hours on Oct 9, resulting in 4 to 6 inches of rain that produced low-lying and urban-type flooding. As the core of Milton moved over central Florida late that night, an additional 4 to 6 inches fell across the same area, resulting in flash and significant urban flooding across many areas of the county. Numerous roads were closed in the county as a result of the flash flooding, particularly in the south part of the county near Clermont, Groveland, and Mascotte.

The heavy rain that fell as a result of the storm also led to a long-term river flood event along the St. Johns. At Deland, the river rapidly rose to major flood stage on Oct 11, peaking at 5.49 ft on Oct. 14. Downstream at Astor, the river was already in minor flood stage at the beginning of the event and quickly rose to major the morning of Oct 10, peaking at 4.81 ft on Oct 12, a new record for the site.

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 → (28.7827, -81.9576)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1221450. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.