Walton County declared a state of emergency Friday after several days of heavy rain caused significant flooding and damage to local roads and bridges. Okaloosa County also has sustained some road damage and flooding, but no one had been advised to evacuate their homes as of Friday. This is an extraordinary rain, said Russell Beaty, Walton County's emergency management coordinator. We typically can handle a good deluge. I don't know that we've ever seen anything quite like this in recent history. Walton County commissioners met Friday morning to declare the emergency. What this means is we're heightening our awareness, said Louis Svehla, the county's public information officer. By resolution, the state of emergency will be in effect until 10 a.m. next Friday. The rain is expected to continue until early next week.
Updates on road closures began early Thursday and continued to come in Friday. More than 60 roads and bridges in the area were closed because of the rain. Beaty said a washout on County Road 3280 south of State Road 20 has closed the road indefinitely. Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Catherine Rodriguez said the county has sustained about $1.44 million in damage from the rain and flooding. Randy McDaniel, Okaloosa County's emergency management director, said officials have alerted some residents of the possible need to leave their homes because of flooding. As of Friday morning, McDaniel said no one has had to be evacuated. Walton County commissioners jordan 8 phoenix suns met Friday morning to declare the emergency. This is something we see every year with these tropical systems, McDaniel said. We're monitoring the rivers throughout the area while the rain continues. Crestview had received 5.8 inches of rain as of Thursday while Destin got 3.62 inches, according to the National phoenix suns 8s for sale Weather Service. Rainfall in Walton County ranged from 10.22 inches to 17.44 inches nearer the coast. Okaloosa and Walton counties are under a flash flood warning through Sunday.
We don't know anything official, but those numbers (for Walton County) probably does break some records, said meteorologist Katie Moore with the National Weather Service in Tallahassee. It was quite significant, and unfortunately there will probably be another 2 to 3 inches and still some possible storms to come. Jack Cullens, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mobile, Ala., said a deep tropical moisture plume coming the Gulf of Mexico is bringing the wet weather. phoenix suns 8s He said that there is a high pressure system to the east of Northwest Florida and a low pressure system to the west. Between the two areas there is extremely moist air, Cullens said. With that much moisture, it takes very little heat to get you showers and thunderstorms. This same pattern is expected to stay in place until Monday or Tuesday.