Tropical Storm — Coastal St. Lucie, Florida

2024-10-09 to 2024-10-10 · Coastal St. Lucie, Florida

Event narrative

St. Lucie County Emergency Management reported isolated instances of downed trees and powerlines as a result of Hurricane Milton's winds, which surface observations indicate peak wind gusts generally between 50 to 70 mph, and locally up to 75 mph. Six tornadoes were confirmed to have affected the county. Rainfall totals ranged between 3 to 6 inches. A damage assessment reported a total of 185 structures affected, 1187 with minor damage, 165 with major damage, and 151 destroyed, resulting in over $485 million in residential damage and $12 million in county infrastructure damage, primarily due to tornadoes. There were six direct and one indirect storm-related fatalities in St. Lucie County associated with Hurricane Milton. The tornado that struck the Spanish Lakes subdivision in the northeast part of the county killed six people (direct), including a 66-year-old male, 85-year-old male, 82-year-old male, 66-year-old female, 84-year-old female, and a 70-year-old female (these fatalities are noted in the tornado event). A 79-year-old male from Port St. Lucie died on Oct 12 from injuries he sustained after falling from a ladder as he was putting up his shutters in advance of the storm (indirect).

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.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1221459. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.