Tropical Storm Elsa Soaks Putnam | Palatka Daily News, Palatka, Florida

Officials: Area dodged a bullet but more rain in forecast

A local man traverses down Reid Street in Palatka as Tropical Storm Elsa lashes Putnam County on Wednesday.
A motorist enters the intersection of St. Johns Avenue and 14th Street in Palatka, which begins to flood Wednesday because of Tropical Storm Elsa.
St. Johns Avenue begins to flood Wednesday after rain from Elsa falls.
The St. Johns River pounds against the shore as Elsa begins to affect Putnam County.
Fifth Street in Palatka begins to flood Wednesday as Tropical Storm Elsa unloads rain throughout Putnam County.
Some businesses along St. Johns Avenue in Palatka are closed Wednesday because of Tropical Storm Elsa.

Tropical Storm Elsa swept through North Florida on Wednesday afternoon bringing heavy rain, 50 mph winds and flooding.

The storm made landfall in Taylor County at about 11 a.m. Wednesday, impacting Putnam and nearby counties with its outer bands, according to the National Hurricane Center. Putnam County was under a flood watch Wednesday afternoon.

Elsa briefly reached hurricane status early Wednesday before moving ashore as a tropical storm.

Putnam officials said the county avoided being directly hit, although leftover rain from Elsa beat local streets Wednesday.

County Emergency Management Specialist Danelle Choate said the Emergency Operations Center went to a Level 2 activation this week, but it was deactivated by 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Choate – who spent nearly 34 hours at the center, first arriving 7:30 a.m. Tuesday – never thought the county would need to move to a Level 1 activation, the highest level or what is considered full activation. Level 3 would be considered the lowest level of activation.

She said one San Mateo power line received damage but had not heard of anything more serious, including heavy flooding reports.

“West Putnam probably got hit the hardest,” she said.

Residents stocked up on sandbags Tuesday afternoon as four county locations and one in Palatka were set up for people to fill a maximum of 15 bags as a precaution. Choate said it slowed down later that day.

Government leaders throughout Putnam met at the Emergency Operations Center on Tuesday to be briefed on storm updates from the National Hurricane Center and the National Weather Service in Jacksonville.

“When we had to make a decision, we had everybody here,” Choate said. “… None of the decisions were just one person saying, ‘We’re doing this.’”

Local leaders made the decision to move to a Level 2 activation, distribute sandbags and open Kelley Smith Elementary School on Tuesday night as a shelter for people with special needs, she said.

Employees of the Florida Department of Health in Putnam County called residents who needed assistance Tuesday night and five people relocated. Choate said officials were demobilizing the shelter already by Wednesday afternoon.

The county’s call center opened Monday for residents’ questions. It closed late Wednesday afternoon as the threat of Elsa dwindled.

Board of County Commissioners Chairman Larry Harvey, who represents West Putnam, said expected large amounts of precipitation in Interlachen. As long as high winds did not hit the area, Harvey said, he didn’t think trees would fall or power lines would become damaged.

“We are wet out here,” he said. “… Today alone, we’ve had 2-and-a-half inches of rain.”

Harvey said he was glad government offices were closed Wednesday because he wanted to keep employees safe rather than risk them getting hurt by making them drive on rainy roads.

“We prepared for the worst and we didn’t get it,” Harvey said.

While Elsa has moved on, more rain is in the forecast for Putnam today and during the next few days. That could bring more flooding concerns as officials said the ground was already saturated from recent rainfall.

The National Weather Service forecast showed a 60% chance of showers and thunderstorms today, 50% Friday and 60% to 70% for the weekend.

“We’ve had lots of rainfall during the last several days,” said Katie Nguyen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jacksonville. “There’s a decent chance for scattered storms, with a bigger chance on Saturday and Sunday.”

Nguyen said isolated areas of Putnam have received 2 to 5 inches of rain during the past week and 5 to 10 inches in the past two weeks. She said that is around 4 to 5 inches above normal.

“The soil is already saturated, so flooding can be a concern and that can make trees fall, too,” Nguyen said.

Editor Wayne Smith and reporter Nick Blank contributed to this story.