As Jacksonville started to clean up from Hurricane Ian, Mayor Lenny Curry outlined when services and facilities will reopen.
During a news conference Sept. 30 as Ian was nearing landfall in South Carolina, Curry announced he and the three Duval County Beaches mayors agreed to reopen public beaches immediately.
City offices will reopen at 8 a.m. Oct. 3.
Curry said Duval County Public Schools also will reopen all facilities and activities that day.
Jacksonville experienced significantly less flooding from Ian than it did during Hurricane Irma in 2017, although Curry said there were record levels Sept. 29 in parts of the St. Johns River.
Ian regained Category 1 hurricane strength Sept. 29 after weakening to a tropical storm. It made landfall in Cayo Costa near Fort Myers on Sept. 28 as a Category 4 hurricane with winds up to 150 mph.
It passed by Northeast Florida toward Georgia and South Carolina overnight Sept. 30.
Curry linked a reduced amount of flooding to infrastructure improvements completed in the last few years.
Ian did not produce the 11.17 inches of rain Jacksonville recorded during Irma.
“Sections of areas that would normally be devastated by this had only minor impacts. This is due to heavy investments in infrastructure, pump stations, bulkheads, reinforcement of sand dunes at the beaches and other crucial improvements.”
City crews have completed an inspection of the Jacksonville Beach Pier that Curry said will reopen at 7 a.m. Oct. 1.
Flooding risk
He cautioned that the area remains under a coastal flood warning, and the ocean is not yet safe for swimming and recreation.
Duval County is still under a high surf and rip current advisory, according to the National Weather Service.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Alexander Boothe said there will be a gradually decreasing risk of coastal and tidal flooding in the Jacksonville area.
He cautioned that minor to moderate tidal flooding is still possible through the weekend.
“All that water that is in the upper part of the (St. Johns River) basin south of us is going to drain in. All that heavy rain that fell over Central Florida is going to flow through Jacksonville,” Boothe said.
“That’s why it’s going to be prolonged.”
Jacksonville Beach Mayor Christine Hoffman said Ian washed away about 25% of Duval County’s beach dunes but minimized the impact of coastal flooding.
Hoffman said some of the cliffs created on the dunes can be five to 10 feet high and urged residents, specifically children, to stay off the dunes while they go through a natural restoration process.
“We did have a lot of storm surge activity out there, but the dunes did their job,” Hoffman said.
Dune renourishment
“But right now they’re very fragile and right now we need to really take care to let them recover.”
City officials said the U.S Army Corp. of Engineers renourished the dunes after Hurricane Irma in 2017 through the Duval County Shore Protection Project. The dunes were “extremely healthy” for Ian.
City Department of Public Works Chief Project Engineer Steven Long said the dunes are scheduled for another renourishment next year.
The city will ask the Army Corps to assess the dunes to see if the erosion would qualify for the restoration work to be expedited, Long said.
As of 1:47 p.m. Sept. 30, JEA reported 1,015 customers were without power throughout its service territory. That’s down from the peak Sept. 29 of 22,000 customers.
City Public Relations Specialist Caroline Adkins said in an email Sept. 30 that personnel are deployed to work on storm recovery.
“This includes tree debris clearing and removal, stormwater recovery, traffic signal issues and other tasks as discovered while performing storm damage assessment,” she said.
The city will close its emergency four shelters Sept. 30. The Jacksonville Transportation Authority resumed regular bus service and the Jacksonville International Airport reopened for flights.
The city asks residents to include yard debris from Ian in normal garbage, yard waste and recycling collection, which resumes Oct. 3
Other services and amenities ready to resume service are:
• Animal Care and Protective Service at 2020 Forest St. will be open noon to 5 p.m. Sept. 30 as weather permits for individuals looking for lost pets and those interested in fostering.
• Animal code enforcement officers will be in the field responding to animal-related emergencies. For animal emergencies, call 630-CITY.
• The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens will reopen at 9 a.m. Oct. 1.
Politics and policy
Despite Ian’s destructive storm surge, wind and rain in Southwest Florida and flooding in St. Augustine, the Jacksonville area saw relatively little impact in areas hit by tidal flooding from the St. Johns River during Irma.
The San Marco and Riverside neighborhoods experienced minor flooding from Ian, but Daily Record news partner WJXT Channel 4 News4Jax reported Sept. 30 that Springfield Park near Hogans Creek and areas around McCoys Creek saw more standing water.
Curry used his final Ian news conference to link improved infrastructure spending to money freed up in his 2016 pension reform plan and to push back against candidates in the 2023 election who did not support last year’s expansion of Duval County’s gas tax.
The 6-cent increase and extension of Duval County’s Local Option Gas Tax approved by City Council in May 2021 included funding for $40 million in drainage system improvements and maintenance countywide.
“There are people on the ballot in the spring that voted against these projects and have taken a stand against it,” Curry said.
“Look, you had people who voted against these projects who go out and praise these projects when they want to get media attention,” he said.
Curry is term-limited and not running for office in 2023.
He did not name anyone, but four Republican Council members who are running for another office or reelection in the March 2023 elections voted against the gas tax increase.
Mayoral candidate and District 5 City Council member LeAnna Cumber has been one of the most prominent critics of funding those infrastructure projects with a gas tax increase.
She filed legislation that failed in December 2021 to repeal the gas tax expansion.
One of Cumber’s GOP rivals for mayor, Council member Al Ferraro, also voted against the tax increase.
Council member Rory Diamond represents the Beaches and also voted against it.
Council member Danny Becton, who is running for Duval County Property Appraiser, opposed the gas tax bill.
“I just think voters ought to know that we’ve made significant investments to make our city safer, more resilient and understand where the candidates are on the issues,” Curry said.
Other stormwater resiliency efforts, like a planned $33 million project on Hogans Creek, don’t receive funding in the city’s five-year Capital Improvement Plan until at least 2026 or beyond.
“We’ll be bringing on new drainage improvements to help the city as a whole deal with citations like this,” Public Works engineer Long said.