Lenny Curry: Irma a ‘serious threat’ to Duval County

Though Hurricane Irma’s cone of uncertainty continues to jog west, eliding some of Duval County in Saturday mprojections, Jacksonville still faces storm impacts to come.

And the hurricane warning covering the area reflects that.

High winds and downed trees will be a certainty no matter where the storm makes landfall, as will torrential rain and flash flooding. And in fact, a Nor’easter hitting the area Saturday afternoon ahead of Irma will exacerbate the impact of the rainfall that comes with the storm.

Fuel will be in short supply also, a consequence of local mandatory evacuations in coastal and low-lying areas ordered on Friday, as well as the mass exodus of travelers from storm-threatened South Florida in recent days.

As of Friday afternoon, 70 percent of Jacksonville gas stations had fuel. Updated figures will be provided as soon as we get them.

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry spent much of Saturday preparing for impacts, including a noon Emergency Road Access Team and Swift Water Team Briefing, where he was accompanied by other city officials.

Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Chief Kurtis Wilson noted that Irma would be the “real deal for 12 hours,” with sustained tropical storm force winds blanketing the entire county.

A significant pressure for cut and toss, rescue, and utility units: the brunt of the storm will be on the less populated western part of the county, which has older developments and infrastructure.

Sheriff Mike Williams, mindful of a death last year by a JEA worker, noted that all of those on the front lines should “be safe” and not “push the envelope.”

Then Curry took the microphone, to applause.

“You shouldn’t be applauding me; you should be applauding yourselves,” Curry said. “Folks often say you’re the unseen heroes and that’s true.”

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The 2 PM briefing dealt with weather, and Curry took pains to ameliorate a misconception that as the storm tracked west, Duval was out of the woods with the center of the storm expected to stay to the west of Jacksonville.

There is a “major risk outside the cone,” Curry said, with coastal flooding, sustained tropical storm force winds, and hurricane gusts all expected, along with a three to four foot storm surge along the Atlantic coast.

Irma, Curry said, is “not a West Florida problem only. Duval County is under serious threat.”

“Widespread wind damage is likely across the county,” Curry noted, with winds of 40-50 MPH expected, and higher gusts downtown, on the Westside, and along the St. Johns River.

Downtown, Riverside, and San Marco are prone to flooding, especially early Monday.

For those at risk, Curry said there is “plenty of room at shelters,” which are at 10 percent capacity (except for Legends in Northwest Jacksonville, which is full).

250 National Guardsmen have been deployed, Curry said, and 250 more are on their way, of Florida’s contingent of 7,000.

Power outages are expected; however, Curry said JEA has twice as many resources (such as poles) as they had after Matthew, with four times as much manpower.

And Jacksonville, Curry said, is prepared for the financial impact.

“We were prepared for Matthew. We are prepared for this one,” Curry said, noting the city’s finances are stable as a whole.

With two major storms threatening the Jacksonville area within the span of 12 months, Curry noted that future budgets will “take into consideration” these events, as they are becoming a more recurrent pressure for policymakers.