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Nicole Briefly Pushes River Back To Near Record Flooding

    Hurricane Nicole won’t go down in history as Lake County’s most damaging storm, but its path remnants brought the one thing the Astor community didn’t need:  More rain and northerly winds.  
    The St. Johns River in Astor swelled into major flooding status last week, as Nicole’s wet impact arrived. US Geological Survey tracking indicated that as early last Tuesday, the river began to rise in Astor, due in large part to a northerly wind that was pushing water south from Lake George, and also slowing the river’s normal northerly flow.  By Wednesday night, before the storm’s full impact was felt, the river had risen to 4.1 feet, above the 4.0 level that indicates ‘major’ flooding levels.  By sunrise Thursday, as the storm’s full impact was being felt, the river had jumped to 4.52 feet above flood stage, just below the 4.68 foot level on October 1, after Hurricane Ian, and a record for the area.  
    The river held near that level for several days, but by early Monday morning, November 14, the river had receded to below 4 feet and had continued to decline through the day. Tuesday afternoon, the decline had continued, with the river at 3.81 feet.
    Anything above 2 feet is considered flood stage, with ‘moderate’ flooding noted at 3 feet.  The river hasn’t been below that level since September 28.