County declares state of emergency
Nassau County has declared a Local State of Emergency ahead of another storm expected to make landfall in Florida.
The tropical development in the northern Caribbean, known as Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine, was expected to become a hurricane Tuesday and forecasts showed it becoming a Category 3 before making landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast on Thursday. The tropical wave, to be called Helene if upgraded to a hurricane, could be more intense than Debby which made it to Category 1 status and passed through Nassau County as a tropical storm.
Emergency Management Director Tim Cooper was at the BOCC meeting Monday, only briefly, to discuss the declaration.
“A couple things about this scares me. Obviously we can’t hold much additional water in Nassau County… Our ground is already super inundated by water, everything’s very damp, very wet, so if we get any wind with this whatsoever, we’re going to get trees knocked over and that causes power lines to be knocked down,” Cooper said.
He said he met with the Executive Policy Group that works with the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and it supported the decision to activate the Local State of Emergency and the plans set by Emergency Management — for potential evacuations of those who may be in power-dependent locations and those in low-lying flood areas; a strike team dealing with road clearance; and flood-strike teams to assist people who may get trapped by flooding.
Midday Tuesday, City of Fernandina Beach interim City Manager Jeremiah Glisson said the city was planning to issue an Executive State of Emergency either Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday to prepare for the storm. Sandbags are available at Central Park, at the corner of Beech and 11th streets.
The county also has made sandbags available for preparations. Nassau County posted Monday sandbags would be available at Yulee Ballpark, 86142 Goodbread Road — Sand is outside the gate and accessible at all times; and Hilliard Road Department, 37356 Pea Farm Road — Sand is behind the gate and will be accessible from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
“I just want to remind the people, you need to put the sandbags in an area where you’re stopping or redirecting water flow,” Cooper said. “The storm we just had… In that type of situation it doesn't do a lot of good, because it rains on both sides of the sandbag. Situations like this, where we could see flash flooding it is important if you have an area that you can protect — whether it’s water coming down your driveway, or water entering your garage, where it’s going to be flowing — you’re the type of person that needs to go and take advantage of the sandbag operations that are setup.”
Governor Ron DeSantis issued a State of Emergency on Monday for several counties in Florida, but excluded Nassau County.
Cooper expressed his disappointment that Florida excluded the county considering its’ wet condition.
“No one in our region was put in that initial executive order. I was not very happy about that due to the fact that we’ve already been exposed to so much flooding in Nassau County. I felt that we should have immediately been put on that.”
Cooper said he reached out to the state and asked them to take measures to get the state of emergency pushed forward in Nassau. He said he certainly feels like a Local State of Emergency is applicable in this situation.
Relief from the rain has been short-lived. The county has seen a few sunny days this week and last, but anticipation of the birth of Helene is prompting further pressure for emergency action. Cooper said they have been monitoring the storm since last week.
Before the county established the Local State of Emergency, County Manager Taco Pope said, “Even prior to Debby, it’s essentially been one large response … and now that the state is moving into a position which appears we will be part of the state declaration for emergency, we’d like to go ahead and establish a Local State of Emergency to get some reimbursements with our expenditures.”
Several residents were in attendance on Monday to share their personal concerns of the current flooding issues on their properties. County leaders encouraged residents to reach out to the county manager or their district’s commissioner with their concerns.
Nassau County has seen record rainfall in the last few months, previously stating we are seeing 100-year record rainfall totals.
Commissioner Alyson McCullough said, “the science teacher in me can’t not look at the data.”
“We are a peninsular state. There is nowhere for water to go, it’s a water cycle… They’re seeing areas that for hundreds of years had zero groundwater.. We’re talking about outside of Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades that were dry areas for hundreds of years, are now having five and six-(feet) of steady flow of water.”
McCullough said in some areas of south Florida, there even are 1,000-year record water tables.
“With all the resources and money in the world .. there is just some flooding that’s going to occur because of the nature and topography of Florida… I do know that our staff is working absolutely nonstop for our residents,” McCullough said.
Cooper referred residents to the EM website to share impacts of the storm. He said the site is up to date and can inform you of how to contact Emergency Management. Emergency Management says if you have an emergency, call 9-1-1, but the Dispatch Center’s nonemergency line is staffed 24/7: 904-225-5174.
The county said in a social media post that “declaring a local State of Emergency allows your government officials quick access to resources to help manage a crisis until things return to normal. A State of Emergency also helps government officials take extra measures to protect the public, trigger anti-price gouging laws, and most importantly, seek State or Federal funding for disaster response and reimbursement of funds exhausted on things such as overtime costs and purchase of supplies and equipment needed to manage the emergency.”
Fernandina Beach declared a Local State of Emergency less than two weeks ago, as local leaders and workers have been dealing with flooding caused by Debby and the rainstorms that followed. Interim City Manager Jeremiah Glisson described the challenges the city was facing with extraordinary rainfall that pushed both stormwater and wastewater systems beyond capacity.
The rainfall was "extraordinary and unprecedented and overwhelmed the city’s stormwater system and entered the city’s wastewater system," said a release from Glission. "Volumes at the wastewater plant increased by an estimated 400%. The wastewater plant operated above capacity which resulted in an overflow of partially treated wastewater being discharged into the Amelia River. At this time, all wastewater is being treated."
According to the release, "The excessive volume of stormwater at the treatment plant resulted in a backup within portions of the wastewater collection system. This caused overflows and backups within limited areas of downtown. City staff mobilized to make modifications to the plant’s operation to accommodate the excessive flow. The collection system is still experiencing excessive volumes which staff continue to address.”
The county was in a Local State of Emergency for two weeks, prior to, during and immediately following Debby’s passthrough of Nassau County. The declarations of emergency last for seven days at a time.
achandler@fbnewsleader.com