JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Unlike Hurricane Helene, Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan said flooding and storm surge are the main concerns for Hurricane Milton, which is expected to impact the area Wednesday evening into Thursday morning.
Duval County was put under a Hurricane Watch on Monday evening.
During a news conference Monday, the mayor said the county should expect tropical storm force winds of 40 to 50 mph with gusts of 60 to 70 mph. However, the beaches, Intracoastal along the St. Johns River and high-profile buildings, can expect slightly stronger sustained winds and potentially sustained hurricane-force winds.
While the winds may be similar to Helene, flooding rain will be different this time with Milton, according to the mayor.
“That’s what we’re most concerned about compared to what we were concerned about with Helene,” Deegan said. “Our ground is obviously already saturated. The river levels are elevated.”
Deegan said they’re expecting at least 4 to 6 inches of rain with a chance of as high as 10 inches of rain in some areas of the city in a very short period of time. With those factors combined, flooding could be between 2 to 4 feet in Ortega, Riverside, San Marco, Southampton, Downtown, and along the Trout River, Ribault River and Moncrief Creek.
The mayor urged residents to have their hurricane preparations complete by Tuesday night.
“We’re asking everyone to stay home and off the roads on Wednesday. If you live in a flood-prone area, we encourage you to find shelter on higher ground or in one of our city shelters,” Deegan said.
The mayor said she will declare a local state of emergency starting Tuesday at 8 a.m. That’s also when the Emergency Operations Center will go from partial to full activation.
JEA said crews are ready to respond to any storm impacts in our area and urged customers to prepare for possible power and water outages.
A JEA spokesperson said restoration may be different from Helene because Hurricane Milton is expected to have widespread impacts throughout the state. For those reasons, customers may need to wait a bit longer to get their power back.
MORE | ‘Please be patient’: JEA says restoration times could be longer with Hurricane Milton
“Please be patient with us. We did have a significant number of mutual aid crews that were here during Hurricane Helene,” McAllister said. “It will be different for Hurricane Milton because we’re competing for limited resources throughout the state in terms of contractors and mutual aid assistance.”
City offices will be closed Wednesday through Friday, as well as Duval County Public Schools.
The mayor said JTA will operate as long as it is safe to do so.
The St. Johns River Ferry’s last trip will be on Tuesday at 10:45 a.m.
MORE | County-by-county: Northeast Florida begins preparations ahead of Hurricane Milton
Mayor Donna Deegan said JTA is providing free shuttles for Ken Knight Drive residents to take them to the Legends Center.
Solid waste pickup will go on as scheduled on Tuesday. All Wednesday and Thursday solid waste collections, garbage, recycling and yard waste will be suspended.
Thursday’s collection for garbage and recycling will be rescheduled to Saturday. Collection and recycling is anticipated to go on as normal on Friday.
“If you see any debris still sitting out in front of your house, or there’s debris that you’re thinking of putting out there, please try to get that in a place where it’s not going to blow around between now and if it’s not picked up tomorrow,” Deegan said. “Try to secure that as much as you can, and don’t put any new waste out there until we can get our arms around this.”
Residents are encouraged to call 630-CITY for questions and download the JaxREADY app.