A.G. Gancarski
Northeast Florida policy makers, including in Jacksonville and surrounding areas, have begun to make key decisions ahead of Hurricane Dorian.
The Category 5 storm, lashing the Bahamas on Sunday and Monday, will become the peninsula’s problem this week.
After Hurricane Matthew lashed beaches and flooded St. Augustine in 2016, and Hurricane Irma flooded downtown Jacksonville as well the next year, locals know the stakes.
With winds expected to outstrip Hurricane Matthew, power outages and a long period of restoration are a given.
And for beaches in the region that just completed renourishment from previous storms, erosion is assured.
With a hurricane watch up to the Georgia border, plans and orders that are becoming a yearly tradition are now in play.
St. Johns and Duval have ordered Monday evacuations in Zones A and B, areas that are close to water and/or lowlying.
Meanwhile, a coastal flood warning is in effect in St. Johns, Duval, Clay, Flagler, and Putnam counties through Thursday morning.
St. Augustine and St. Augustine Beach are also evacuating.
Local anxiety was typified by a headline from the local Gatehouse paper: “Will St. Augustine be under water again from Hurricane Dorian?”
Potential outcomes run the gamut. If the Cat 5 storm tracks north sooner, as some models have predicted, the area could receive tropical storm type impacts. However, a storm making landfall would be catastrophic.
As of Monday morning, the storm was crawling at 1 mph westward.
The center of the forecast cone is still offshore, and all eyes are on the northward turn.
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry issued a state of emergency for Duval County Monday, noting that his administration has open lines of communication and resources from all levels of government.
