After Elsa made landfall as a tropical storm Wednesday in North Florida’s Taylor County, recovery is underway. Officials say flooding is the largest remaining concern.
Elsa made landfall near Steinhatchee where Taylor County Emergency Management Director Kristy Anderson says most of the impacts are concentrated. Anderson says Elsa dumped heavy rain on the area.
“We received about five inches from Tropical Storm Elsa and it flooded some of our low lying areas. We didn’t receive any tidal surge per say. So the tidal surge wasn’t a big factor, it was the rain water,” Anderson says.
Anderson says several roads remain flooded. And she says when she visited Steinhatchee following the storm she talked with a few residents who had flooding in their homes.
“We’re still assessing. There were two homes in one neighborhood that received about 8 inches of inundation. They are getting that water out now. We are going to send the Red Cross down there to check on them. Red Cross has muck out buckets and they can help and our county road department is working diligently to get that water pumped out from those ditch areas and those roadways,” Anderson says.
Officials are urging motorists to avoid driving through any standing water on the road. Experts say just 12 inches of water is enough to sweep away a car. But Anderson says work is already underway and she expects any closed roads to reopen soon. Meanwhile. Anderson says she’s thankful Elsa turned out to be a more subdued storm than some had feared.
“We were prepared. We deal with this flooding, it seems yearly. This storm was a good practice for anything else that we receive. We hope we do not, but we will be ready,” Anderson says.
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