DELAND, Fla. – As a strong storm approaches the state, Volusia County’s emergency officials said Thursday that they will be keeping an eye out for flooding, rough surf, and some possible beach erosion.
The county’s emergency teams said since the storm has shifted slightly, they are feeling more at ease about the storm’s impacts but there are still a few concerns.
One is the St. Johns River, where officials said the river’s levels just got back to below flood stage. They anticipate the rain this weekend could bring it back up to a minor flood stage.
“It’s not a huge amount of rain like we’ve seen in the past, but we’ve had a very wet late summer/fall, and the ground is rather saturated,” said Public Work’s Director Ben Bartlett.
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Based on the storm’s current path, Volusia’s Emergency and Public Works departments said they are gearing up for two to four inches of rain, with up to five inches in low-lying areas.
“The main concern is really with this level of rain, it is saturated but those low-lying areas, water over the road type of situations, that’s where we’re really going to see concern,” said Bartlett.
Right now, they’re not concerned that major flooding could enter homes or buildings.
These teams are taking precautions, though, with possible wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour inland and sustained winds possibly 30 to 40 miles per hour along the coast.
“Take a look at your holiday decorations, take the wind chimes down, your plants,” said Jim Judge, the county’s Emergency Services Director.
As for the beach that’s still vulnerable in many areas from last year’s hurricanes, the county’s asking those on the coast to stay vigilant but are trusting the Trap Bag system they installed to protect the eroded properties.
“Based on the surf predictions that we’re seeing we anticipate that the trap bags as they are installed should hold up to this type of surf. We’ve had a couple of bigger storms since they’ve been installed, and they held up well,” said Bartlett.
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