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St. Johns River Water Management District: Hurricane Irma Dropped 2 Trillion Gallons Of Rain

The view of from the 13th floor of Centennial Tower apartments, located at the corner of Market and First Street just north of downtown Jacksonville, at 8 a.m. Monday.
Robert Torbert
/
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

The St. Johns River Water Management District, which encompasses parts of 18 central and northeastern Florida counties, said Tuesday Hurricane Irma dropped more than two trillion gallons of water across its service area.

That fact was presented in a report outlining last month’s hydrological conditions, flood control system and the district’s response during the storm.

“Storms like Hurricane Irma bring a lot of rain in a short amount of time and it’s critical the components of the district’s flood control system be balanced to mitigate flooding where possible,” said St. Johns River Water Management District Executive Director Dr. Ann Shortelle. “Our staff did an outstanding job of responding to cities and counties requests for needs during storm recovery.”

The district report concluded that September saw unusually heavy rain and that a powerful nor’easter storm that hit the area hours before the hurricane exacerbated what was already a dangerous situation. Districtwide, the average rainfall from Hurricane Irma alone was just more than 10 inches.

Meanwhile in Northeast Florida, Duval, Putnam and Clay Counties were drenched with more than 13 inches of total rain.

The combination of Irma and the nor’easter created flooding in parts of Jacksonville that surpassed records set more than 170 years ago.

Reporter Ryan Benk can be reached at  rbenk@wjct.org , at (904) 358 6319 or on Twitter  @RyanMichaelBenk .

Copyright 2020 WJCT News 89.9. To see more, visit WJCT News 89.9.

Ryan Benk is originally from Miami, Florida and came to Tallahassee to attend Florida State University. He worked on Miami Dade College’s Arts and Literature Magazine- Miamibiance Magazine and has published poetry and a short film called “ The Writer.” He’s currently working as the Newsroom’s Researcher while finishing his Creative Writing Bachelor’s Degree at Florida State University. When he’s not tracking down news, Ryan likes watching films, writing fiction and poetry, and exploring Florida.