Tropical Storm — Coastal Volusia County, Florida

2024-10-09 to 2024-10-10 · Coastal Volusia County, Florida

Event narrative

Volusia County Emergency Management reported numerous downed trees and powerlines throughout the county as a result of Hurricane Milton's winds, which surface observations indicate wind gusts peaked between 50 to 60 mph inland, and 70 to 90 mph east of I-95. An observation near Ponce Inlet recorded a gust to 99 mph. Rainfall totals ranged between 7 to 15 inches, locally as high as 16 inches, which led to extensive freshwater flooding across large portions of the county. The St. Johns River quickly entered major flood stage at both Astor and Deland, with the river cresting at a new (preliminary) record of 4.8 ft. at Astor on Sat. Oct. 12. A preliminary damage assessment reported a total of 3158 structures affected, 1606 with minor damage, 332 with major damage, and 6 destroyed, with a cumulative public, residential, and

commercial loss of approximately $267.5 million.

There were two direct and two indirect storm fatalities in Volusia County associated with Hurricane Milton. A 53-year-old female died when a tree fell on her Port Orange home (direct). A 79-year-old female from Ormond Beach was killed when a tree fell on her home (direct). A 66-year-old male in Orange City suffered a heart attack while boarding up his home in advance of the storm (indirect). An 89-year-old male in Ormond Beach suffered a medical event but first responders were unable to get to his home in time during 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 1221743. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.