The rainfall figures from Hurricane Milton have been released by the Flagler County Emergency Management Department, confirming what many suspected would happen: enormous amounts of rain fell onto the county as the storm passed over. The highest levels recorded showed over 19 inches of rainfall.
Six measuring stations had recorded rainfall figures as reported by the Flagler County government, covering much of the geographical area of the county. The data implies that west Flagler County was pelted the hardest, with closer to two feet of rain than one foot. Dozens of houses were damaged either by flooding or debris impacts, leaving the county with a lengthy cleanup in the coming weeks.
The heaviest rainfall recorded by the county was at the measuring station in the Mondex, which recorded 19.14 inches of rain from Saturday, October 5th to Friday, October 11th. With most of west Flagler being rural and at times toward the end of the queue for disaster relief, the heavy rainfall was not what Mondex residents were hoping to see. Following shortly behind was the Flagler County Emergency Operations Center behind the Government Services Building in Bunnell, which recorded 16.16 inches.
The measuring station in southwest Palm Coast had the next highest total, at 16.06 inches of rain. Flagler Beach and west Palm Coast tied for fourth at 13.53 inches apiece, followed by northwest Palm Coast at 12.50 inches. Most of the county is believed to have been hit with over a foot of rain during the storm, marking one of the wettest weeks since Flagler County was incorporated in 1917.
The heavy influx of water into the area’s septic systems prompted a notice from Palm Coast, Flagler Beach, Bunnell, and the county government to limit water usage whenever possible. While no major incidents have been reported as of Monday morning, the extremely high levels in the sewer tanks has the potential to lead to sewage backups in the homes of the most low-lying Flagler County residents.
