Flooding could be a risk in Jacksonville, St. Johns County for days

Despite escaping the worst of Hurricane Milton , the Jacksonville area could be in for days of flooding because of the storm, city and emergency officials warned Thursday.

People had feared that Milton would have the worst effects locally around high tide early Thursday. But dawn broke with almost no flooding in Memorial Park off Riverside Avenue or along San Marco Boulevard, two places with a history of flooding.

That doesn’t mean we’re off the hook.

State Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie warns that future high tides could bring inland flooding in communities along the St. Johns River, since Milton’s heavy rains dumped a lot of water into the river basin in Seminole, Brevard and Volusia counties.

Mayor Donna Deegan said she is “absolutely beyond grateful” that Jacksonville avoided the worst of Hurricane Milton as it barreled through Central Florida. But she warned during an update Thursday that tidal flooding could still occur during high tides Thursday afternoon and through the weekend in San Marco, Riverside and other areas that usually flood.

High tide Thursday afternoon was expected at 2:18 p.m . and then again at 2:47 a.m. and 3:21 p.m. on Friday.

“You need to stay alert if you are in one of the typical flood zones,” Deegan said. “To be clear, we are expecting road flooding primarily at this point. If you are in a particularly low-lying building that is in one of those places that floods, keep an eye on it and be aware — the floodwater could get close to it.”

Andy Rosado, owner of the Smoke-n-Vape & Cigar Smoke Shop on San Marco Boulevard, had considered removing his sandbags, plastic sheets and boards Thursday morning. He rethought those plans when he leared that high tides could still bring flooding along the St. Johns River.

Rosado’s store is only two blocks from the river.

“Just to be safe than sorry. That’s my only concern that it might end up flooding later,” Rosado said. “So just in case, we’ll just leave everything up. I didn’t see no flooding this morning or nothing. Everything looked pretty much the way it is now — almost dry.”

Rosado said recent winds and rain in San Marco actually caused street flooding as high as the top of the boards he put on his storefront before Milton.

By late afternoon Thursday, floodwater was pooling around Jacksonville, from Riverside to San Marco to Ortega to Jacksonville Beach.

Police blocked Lafayette Street near Intuition Ale Works and Manifest Distilling. The river also was high in that area along the seawall.

Cars pushed through water up to their bumpers on Brookwood Road next to River Oaks Park in San Marco. One Amazon delivery driver cruised out of the neighborhood, but a young bicyclist couldn’t make it and walked.

Clay County also warned that water levels in the St. Johns River and Black Creek will continue to rise.

The North Fork of the Black Creek near Middleburg was expected to reach 11.7 feet on Saturday, which is below the level considered minor flooding. But the South Fork near Penney Farms is predicted to hit 16.7 feet , close to moderate flooding.

Rainfall in Northeast Florida on Wednesday and overnight amounted to 1 to 3 inches around Jacksonville but up to 9 inches farther south , according to the National Weather Service.

Additional rainfall of 1 to 2 inches is possible through sunset Thursday for coastal counties in Northeast Florida, the Weather Service said.

Forecasters warned that potentially life-threatening storm surge was possible through the evening. The surge could rise to 3 to 5 feet on the Atlantic coast and Intracoastal Waterway and 2 to 4 feet in the St. Johns River Basin.

Aside from flood warnings, Deegan had these updates Thursday:

• The city’s six storm shelters had 777 people at the height of the storm but about 530 by noon Thursday. Some of them were evacuees from areas where the hurricane hit harder. The shelters will close Friday morning.

• JTA suspended transportation to the shelters Thursday, but transportation can be obtained upon request.

• The return of the Carnival Elation cruise ship that left Jaxport on Oct. 5 has been delayed. Guests scheduled to depart Jaxport on Thursday can sign up for text alerts from Carnival by texting CCL1 to CRUISE (278473). Updates from Carnival are available here .

• The St. Johns River Ferry will reopen Friday. But city offices will stay shut until Monday.

• Public schools will back to regular class schedules on Tuesday, since Monday was already planned as a teacher planning day.

• Jacksonville International Airport stayed open during the height of the storm, but 25 flights were canceled.

• Garbage that should have been collected Thursday will be gathered Saturday.

The post Flooding could be a risk in Jacksonville, St. Johns County for days appeared first on Jacksonville Today .