Hurricane Ian hit southwest Florida just barely under a category 5 hurricane. The devastion he left in his wake was catastrophic. Once Hurricane Ian made landfall the speed at which the storm as a whole moved, slowed down considerably. While this faired in Flagler County’s favor for wind, it allowed more time for the rain to dump large masses of water.
Rainfall totals for Flagler county varied from 7.36 inches to 14 inches. Below is a list of offical rainfall totals for different areas of Flagler County.
9.35″ Bunnell
6.00″ Palm Coast
9.40″ Palm Coast
7.36″ Flagler Beach
8.33″ NW Palm Coast
10.47″ West Central Palm Coast
10.50″ FC Airport
9.20″ East Palm Coast
8.50″ West Central Palm Coast
10.45″ Bunnell
9.50″ West Central Palm Coast
14.00″ Florida Forest Service – Ranger Station US 1
10.23″ West Palm Coast
13.85″ West Central Palm Coast
8.00″ Northeast Palm Coast
7.89″ Northeast Palm Coast
7.45″ Bulow
Because Hurricane Ian slowed down once he made land fall, it allowed the storm to break up, from a category 4 to a tropical storm by the time he exited into the Atlantic. Once he emerged back onto water, however he built back up into a hurricane again one his way to the Carolinas. Even as a tropical storm the max winds recorded were high enough to case some damages to house and trees alike. Below is a list of Max Wind Speeds.
Max Winds recorded
– Marineland 83 mph
– Flagler Beach 68 mph
– Palm Coast 56 mph
– Bunnell 57 mph
– Rima Ridge 39 mph
The worst part of the storm was the flooding for many. The storm surge was significant along the coast for Flagler Beach, along the intracoastal, and the lakes, creeks, and St Johns River. The surf was between 12 and 15ft, which was devastating to not only our iconic Flagler Beach Pier but many piers along the eastern and western coasts, including Daytona Beach’s Sunglow Pier. Storm surges documented along the ICW and the beaches was 4 feet.
The flooding that occured has yet fully recede, many places remain severely flooded in Flagler County. The damages to homes, properties, the beaches and many different locations are significant. While this may not have been a significantly strong storm when it hit Flagler County, it still caused alot of damages to our beloved paradise.
Patience is requested from residents as workers spend countless hours trying to clean up, restore services, and repair damages. Over 17 counties were negatively affected by Hurricane Ian. Many people are without power, water, internet, cable, etc. These wide spread outages, flooding, and damages cover a very large portion of Southwest Florida through Central Florida and even into North Florida.
People are urged to avoid the local beaches at this time, while the residents of Flagler Beach try to clean up the debris, and flooding abates. Flagler Beach officials also ask that no one parks on or near what is left of the dunes, and that people do not try to walk over the dunes in an effort to get onto the beach. The pier is also closed to the public due to damages sustained by the storm.
FPL and linemen from all over the country are working around the clock to restore power, and FPL estimates that most power in Flagler county should be restored by October 4th. Follow our FB page for further updates for Flagler County and it’s municipalities regarding restored services, park facilities, debris cleanup and repaired damages.
FEMA assistance for Flagler County:
Survivors can apply for disaster assistance at disasterassistance.gov, by calling 800-621-3362 from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern Time, or by using the FEMA mobile app. If you use a relay service such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others, give FEMA the number for that service.
For an accessible video on how to apply for assistance go to, youtube.com/watch?v=WZGpWI2RCNw.
Find the latest updates on:
Instagram: www.Instagram.com/FlaglerEOC
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/FlaglerEOC
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/FlaglerEOC
And partner radio station WNZF at FM 94.9 or AM 1550, or download the Flagler Radio app
