August 2, 2024, 3:30 p.m. update
County commissioners declared a state of emergency locally this afternoon during a 3 p.m. meeting after hearing from sheriff’s office emergency management regarding expectations for this weekend.
EM division director John Blanchard told them the storm system is still having difficulty forming due to wind sheer, making it hard to predict the eventual path, but residents should expect heavy wind and rainfall Sunday into Monday.Property owners can prepare for possible heavy winds and rains now by:
The St. Johns River Water Management district recommended “keeping debris out of storm drains and ditches, reporting clogged ditches to local governments, pruning weaker limbs from trees, cleaning out gutters and extending downspouts at least four feet from structures.”
Blanchard said that because of the uncertainly at this time, residents will have little warning of potentially hurricane-like conditions and therefore should start preparing for storms now. He said sandbags would be available starting Saturday at 1 p.m. until 7 p.m. in Macclenny and Sanderson, and again Sunday from 1-5 p.m.
He said warm water in the gulf is expected to strengthen the storm and it could make landfall as a Category 3 Hurricane before coming towards Northeast Florida late this weekend.
“It can strengthen quickly, which takes away time to respond,” said Blanchard.
He recommended following the sheriff’s office or BCSO emergency management Facebook pages for the latest storm updates. We’ll be posting them here as well along with other updates from the National Weather Service and weather STEM stations here.
Check back for updates all weekend … Send any storm related information about impacts to your neighborhood or street, particularly any flooding, road washouts or power lines down, to [email protected]. If you can safely take photos of the impacts, please email those as full size attachments to the same email address for editor Joel Addington.
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The Baker County Sheriff’s Office and Division of Emergency Management along with its partners continue to meet and update the plan of operations ahead of this weekend’s storms from the system dubbed 97L, which sparked a state declaration of emergency Thursday, and should be followed by the county commission today at 3 p.m.
“The County and the City of Macclenny will be distributing sandbags to citizens of Baker County beginning tomorrow, Saturday, August 3rd from 1pm until 7 PM, and Sunday, August 4th from 1pm until 5 pm. There is a limit of six (6) bags per household,” shared emergency management this afternoon. “The bags can be picked up at the City Yard located on 764 Hartline Drive in Macclenny, and 8274 Thomas Sweat Road in Sanderson.”
Inmates were filling up bags this afternoon for distribution tomorrow.
“The latest information on Invest 97L is still very uncertain as to the path it will take, timing and strength. Now is the time to make your normal preparations to stay safe,” said the statement from EM director John Blanchard with this graphic above.
Check back for updates all weekend … Send any storm related information about impacts to your neighborhood or street, particularly any flooding, road washouts or power lines down, to [email protected]. If you can safely take photos of the impacts, please email those as full size attachments to the same email address for editor Joel Addington.
Joel Addington
