Today’s Emerald Coast History Article is brought to you by the folks at Okaloosa Gas District.
Although Northwest Florida is experiencing something of a dry spell over the last couple of months – April of 2014 was completely different.
It was at the end of April that the heavy rains that had inundated the land of the Emerald Coast caused millions of dollars in damages – and cost the lives of two people along the Gulf Coast. Locals compared the conditiojns to those brought to the coast in 1997 by Hurricane Danny, according to the National Weather Service’s recap of the event.
Rainstorms saturated the ground so that by April 29, the land couldn’t hold any more water. But a slow-moving front would be the event that tipped the scales of the water table.
By the evening of April 29, a slow-moving front moved over the skies of northwest Florida. The weather pattern was bumped along by a high-pressure system in the Great Plains of the Midwest.
When the storm left the area 24 hours later, the system had dumped 16 inches of rain on the coastal areas of Okaloosa and Walton Counties.
The National Weather Service noted that the total rainfall for April was between two and six times the expected amount for the month, based on data from the last 30 years. The Northwest Florida Daily News reported that the event was similar to what would happen if a hurricane stalled over southern Okaloosa County. In Walton County, a portion of 30A washed out, shutting down the tourism thoroughfare.
Sinkholes destroyed roads, and rainwater flooded houses from Pensacola to Panama City, and the events heralded a visit from then-Florida Governor Rick Scott as well as a deployment of 75 members of the Florida National Guard.
A study conducted in the Emerald Coast area after the flood revealed some interesting insights into the changes in attitudes wrought by the flood. In Pensacola, many business owners and community members began to advocate for “greener” measures to reduce vulnerability to floods or stormwater systems to move water along with greater ease and efficiency.
Pro Communi Bono
St. Francis De Sales, Ora Pro Nobis!
Register or login with Mid Bay News and never get another pop up on our site!
