Flooding is slow-moving hurricane's main impact.
As Hurricane Debby moved out of North Florida on Monday afternoon, it left behind floodwaters.
Heather Futch, Columbia County public information officer, said flooding was an issue in both the northern and southern portions of the county Monday afternoon. The storm, which made landfall around 7 a.m. Monday near Steinhatchee, slowly moved through North Florida as it headed toward the Atlantic coast of Georgia.
“We did OK,” Futch said. “There is some flooding. We're under that emergency flood warning.”
The slow-moving storm, which was a Category 1 hurricane when it made landfall, included approximately 10 inches of rain at the Columbia County Emergency Operations Center, Futch said.
“It was probably pretty similar all the way across,” she said.
Roadways were also underwater in various parts of the county. County Road 240 was completely covered east of Branford Highway (State Road 247), which also was flooded north of that intersection.
Water also crossed State Road 47 on the south side of Lake City.
“The hazards from this system are far-reaching will be long-lasting,” Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said Monday afternoon during a briefing at the state Emergency Operations Center according to the News Service of Florida. “Depending on the type of basin and the type of river that we're dealing with … this is going to be about a week-long event that we're going to be monitoring.”
Debby had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph at landfall and was downgraded to a tropical storm by 11 a.m. as it moved slowly across North Florida.
Futch said the average wind speed in Columbia County was 12 to 19 mph Monday during the storm with gusts up to 30-35 mph.
“It wasn't nearly as bad as we were thinking,” she said. “Hopefully it will be out of here by this evening.”
With roads submerged, Futch said some services will still not be back and running Tuesday, including trash pickup.
“They are working on roads pretty heavily and restoring lights as quick as possible,” Futch said.
Interstate 10 was closed in Columbia County earlier due to flooding on I-10 between mile marker 295 and mile marker 301 blocking all lanes in both directions.
The Florida Department of Transportation pumped thousands of gallons off the roadway, getting it reopened within an hour Monday evening.
The Columbia County School District also is not opening back up Tuesday in full. The district announced Monday afternoon that 12-month employees are to report at noon Tuesday if they are able. All district employees are expected to be back Wednesday.
“We urge everyone to continue to take every precaution with the effects of this storm as we continue to monitor and update as needed,” Superintendent Lex Carswell said in a release. “Thanks for your understanding and flexibility.”
Roadways were also under water in Suwannee County, particularly in the downtown area of the City of Live Oak, including along Howard Street (U.S. Highway 90) west of Ohio Avenue (U.S. 129) and along Ohio Avenue north of Howard Street.
“There's still risks,” Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is going to travel to damaged areas Tuesday, said, according to the News Service. “There's a risk from a lot of water. But from a wind perspective, this was not at the level of the previous storms that we've seen in the state. So, all in all, especially given that these folks had already been hit 11 months ago, we're glad that we're getting reports that we're not seeing a lot of widespread wind damage.”