Tropical Storm — Coastal Duval, Florida

2019-09-04 · Coastal Duval, Florida

Event narrative

Dorian impacts to the county were mainly confined to the immediate beachfront. Scattered trees and large limbs were blown down, and some of this tree debris blocked roads. Most of the tree damage was confined to Arlington and the beaches communities. Storm tide flooding was a larger impact than wind damage and produced flooding and damage to the immediate coast with most damage to Huguenot Park where the boardwalk was majorly damaged. Part of the boardwalk was broken off by wave action and deposited about 100 yards up the beach. The access road to Huguenot Park was completely flooded by storm surge flooding. The Jacksonville Beach Pier sustained damage but the extend was not yet determined. Sand loss occurred to the berm along the entire coast. Farther inland along the St. Johns River in downtown Jacksonville, storm surge flooded the immediate River Walk and overflowed Hogans Creek. At this time structure flooding was unknown. At 1147 am on 9/4, the media reported photos of a large tree that was blown down onto cars in the Lakeshore neighborhood near Ortega. At 2 pm, the storm surge value reached 2.13 ft MHHW at the Mayport tide gauge. Coastal flooding begins at 1.8 ft MHHW at this location. This storm surge value was the highest recorded since the 2.8 ft value measured during Hurricane Irma and the 2.13 ft MHHW value tide for the 10th highest storm surge value measured at this location. Peak winds included 32 mph (gusts 51 mph) at NAS Mayport , 32 mph (gusts 43 mph) at Jacksonville International Airport, 30 mph (gusts to 45 mph) at Cecil Field on the JAX Westside and 36 mph (gusts 48 mph) at NAS Jacksonville on the St. Johns River. Other observations from the WeatherFlow mesonet included 41 mph (gusts 54 mph) at Huguenot Park, 44 mph (gusts 55 mph) at the Jacksonville Beach Pier, 43 mph (gusts 55 mph) at Buck Island west of Mayport in the St. Johns River, and 28 mph (gusts 41 mph) at the Terminal Channel in downtown Jacksonville.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Dorian passed between 80-100 NM offshore of the local Atlantic Coast through the day on Sept. 4, 2019, as a Cat 2 storm on its closet approach. Ahead of Dorian, elevated King Tides and persistent onshore flow already raised water levels within the local estuaries by about 1-1.5 ft including the ICWW and St. Johns River basin. Total water rise (storm tide) associated with Dorian was up to 3.2 ft MHHW along the St. Johns county coast to about 1.5-2 ft MHHW within the St. Johns River basin. Heaviest rainfall was confined to a couple bands in St. Johns & Flagler counties. Wind damage was confined to the immediate coast and areas generally east of the I-95 corridor. There was damage to some beach structures including piers and boardwalks. Some homes flooded in Davis Shores of St. Augustine due to surge flooding & rainfall.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 854388. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.