River Creeps Toward Flood Stage: Idalia Recap

    North Lake County saw light rains and periodic winds pass through last week, as Hurricane Idalia passed to the north on its way to a Big Bend landfall. Lake County schools and other government entities closed on Wednesday, August 30, as a precaution for a late storm shift, but the area saw little impact from the storm.
   Schools and government, as well as several local businesses that had closed for the storm on Wednesday, reopened to regular schedules on Thursday.
   Rains that arrived later in the week, on Thursday and Friday, brought more moisture to the area than the storm itself.
   Rainfall totals varied from Idalia, as much of the precipitation from the storm arrived in concentrated pockets. A total of 2.09 inches was recorded at a weather station located at the Umatilla Municipal Airport, with the majority of that rainfall - 1.35 inches - arriving on Thursday and Friday, after the main storm had passed through. A Florida Forest Service recording station in Paisley reported an inch of rain on Monday, August 21, which was ahead of the storm's arrival Tuesday night, but reported no rain for several days after. Local weather gauges also varied widely, with some weather watchers reporting just tenths of inches during the storm's pass, and others reporting as much as 3.25 inches during the four-day period.
   The same weather station recorded a maximum wind speed of 37.74 miles per hour as the storm moved by on Wednesday.
   Even though Idalia passed to the north of Lake County, the community Astor on Monday saw the St. Johns River creeping closer to an 'actionable' flood state. Factors including rainfall to the south and a southernly wind contributed to the rise in the river at Astor. However, the impact of the rising water had been minimal so far, and much less than a year ago, when the community found itself at a flood stage of four feet, a modern record that impacted homes and travel throughout River Country. Boating traffic was limited on the river for weeks, negatively impacting the economy of the area.
   United States Geological Survey predictors early this week indicated that the river had crested at 1.96 feet on Monday, just below the two-foot flood stage level. On Tuesday, the river was at 1.86 feet, showing a slight decline.