Idalia had 'minimal' impact on Volusia County

As of late Wednesday afternoon, Hurricane Idalia is a Category 1 storm and moving through southeastern Georgia, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm brought a catastrophic storm surge and damaging winds to the Big Bend area but has done little damage to Volusia and Flagler counties.

Forecasters say the center of Idalia will continue moving across southeastern Georgia through this evening, near the coast of South Carolina tonight, and just offshore the coast of southern North Carolina on Thursday when it is forecast to be a tropical storm.

Stay informed: Weather watches, warnings issued for Daytona Beach. See radar, current conditions

Volusia County Schools reopen Thursday

Volusia County Schools will reopen Thursday morning. The district will communicate information about instructional make-up time soon.

Palm Coast City Hall reopens Thursday

Palm Coast City Hall will reopen for business as usual on Thursday following Hurricane Idalia. The city has not found any potential safety hazards thus far from the storm. The Parks and Recreation Department will assess all parks and trails on Thursday morning before reopening to the public.

City facilities opening at 8 a.m. Thursday:• Palm Coast City Hall, 160 Lake Ave., Palm Coast• Palm Coast Utility Office, 2 Utility Dr., Palm Coast• Palm Harbor Golf Club – cart path only (opens at 7:00 a.m.)

City facilities remaining closed until a safety assessment:• Palm Coast Community Center• Palm Coast Aquatic Center• Palm Coast Tennis Center• Indian Trails Sports Complex• Parks and Trails

― Frank Fernandez

Flagler schools to reopen Thursday

Flagler Schools Interim Superintendent LaShakia Moore announced that all Flagler Schools will be in session, as regularly scheduled, on Thursday. This includes all extracurricular and after-school activities.

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said it had only received reports of a handful of downed power lines. Palm Coast reported a downed tree. Flagler Beach has had no reports of any damage and Route A1A, which regularly deteriorates in storms, is undamaged.

As of 1 p.m. Florida Power and Light was reporting 180 customers without power in Volusia County and no customers without power in Flagler County.

― Frank Fernandez

All's quiet in Ormond Beach

Ormond Beach City Manager Joyce Shanahan the city "virtually had no damage” due to Hurricane Idalia other than a stop sign and a street sign had to be reset. In addition, a couple of lift stations, which are pump stations, lost power but did not sustain any damage.

Ormond Beach Mayor Bill Partington said the city had some minor impacts, localized street flooding and some branches down.

“I’d say minimal impacts overall, so we are pleased to come out mostly unscathed,” Partington said. “I think we are on the back end of this and hopefully coming out pretty well.”

― Frank Fernandez

Hurricane Idalia brings no major erosion to Volusia County beaches

Volusia County saw only "minimal impacts" from Hurricane Idalia, and the storm largely spared the vulnerable coastline, according to a news release from the county government.

Volusia County Coastal and Beach Safety officials' initial inspections of the coastline found no significant erosion or property damage. The county said that it worked quickly with municipalities and other agencies to prepare for the storm, and officials thanked residents for taking the storm seriously.

“We were fortunate with this storm as we only had to deal with its outer edges,” Volusia County Emergency Management Director Clint Mecham said in a prepared statement. “Each storm presents its own challenges, and we all need to be ready for the next one.”

Beach access ramps will be closed today, and beach driving will resume on Thursday morning.

County officials are not planning any special collection of storm debris. People should put vegetative storm debris out as part of normal yard waste collection.

― Sheldon Gardner

Votran resuming service in Volusia County

County government officials are getting Voran, the county's public transportation system, up and running again after a temporary suspension because of Hurricane Idalia. Votran has resumed partial operations, and officials expect bus service to be back to normal by noon, according to a county news release.

Riders could still see delays and detours because of debris from Idalia. Votran's Flex Service resumed operations this morning.

Fares are also being collected again. For Votran updates go to votran.org.

― Sheldon Gardner

Volusia County could still see storm impacts today

As Hurricane Idalia moves across southeast Georgia, Volusia County could see wind gusts up to 45-50 mph through 5 p.m. today and 1-3 inches of rain or more, according to a 9:50 a.m. update from Volusia County government. A tornado watch is in effect until 3 p.m. All bridges are still open.

― Sheldon Gardner

Storm hotlines open for Volusia, Flagler residents

Volusia County's Citizens Information Center phone line will be open until 7 p.m. today. For storm-related information call 866-345-0345.

People can reach Flagler County's information line at 386-313-4200.

Daytona Beach's Citizen Hotline will be open until 5 p.m. today for residents with questions about the storm. The number to call is (386) 671-5555. Daytona Beach residents can sign up for emergency alerts from the city at http://CODB.us/Alerts.

― Sheldon Gardner and Eileen Zaffiro-Kean

All quiet in Deltona despite flooding concerns

Catherine Barker, spokeswoman for Deltona, said shortly before 9:30 a.m. that she had not received reports of any issues.

Following Ian last year, hundreds of homes in Volusia County's largest city sustained some level of flooding.

During a City Commission meeting on Monday, staff told the commission they had received permission from the St. Johns River Water Management District to open the gates for the Lake Doyle to Lake Bethel emergency overflow interconnection would help alleviate potential flooding in the Lake Theresa basin.

The city currently faces a class-action lawsuit from 40-plus Stone Island property owners who say the city routed floodwaters from Ian into their neighborhood by opening the aforementioned weir.The National Weather Service's hydrograph Wednesday morning showed no flooding issues along the St. Johns River in Volusia County, which saw record-breaking flooding last year following Ian.

― Katie Kustura

When will schools, other government services reopen in Flagler and Volusia?

Some services will be available today, while others will resume Thursday. Here's a look the schedule for government services in the area:

• Volusia County schools are closed today along with all district activities. The district expects to be back in session on Thursday, but officials plan to provide an update today.

• Volusia County government offices won't open until 1 p.m. today. The Emergency Operations Center will stay open.

• Volusia County library branches will reopen at 1 p.m. today. People who lose power can go to a library to keep cool.

• Smyrna Dunes Park and Lighthouse Point Park will reopen at 1 p.m. today.

• Garbage and recycling schedules in unincorporated Volusia County won't change. People who live inside city limits should contact their local government for collection information.

• All Volusia County bridges are open.

• Deltona City Hall will reopen at noon today. Waste Pro also will run as normal.

• Orange City administrative offices are closed today and will reopen Thursday.

• Flagler schools are closed today, and Flagler officials plan to provide an update on reopening plans.

• All Flagler County government offices, including Flagler County Public Library branches and Parks and Recreational facilities, are expected to reopen on Thursday, according to a county news release.

• The supervisor of elections and property appraiser's offices in Flagler County will reopen on Thursday. Tax collector offices will reopen at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday.

• Flagler Beach officials plan to keep city government offices open.

• Bunnell city government offices will reopen on Thursday. Trash pickup is suspended today.

• Palm Coast will reopen municipal offices, trails and other facilities on Thursday. The city will conduct safety assessments on parks and trails before reopening them. Trash pickup is suspended today.

• Courthouses in Volusia and Flagler counties will reopen on Thursday.

• Florida Department of Health locations in Volusia County will be closed today and will resume normal operations at 8 a.m. Thursday.

― Sheldon Gardner, Katie Kustura, Mary Ellen Ritter and Frank Fernandez

Flagler County lifts evacuation order, to close shelter

Flagler County officials have removed the evacuation order for people living in mobile and manufactured homes, RVs and unsafe structures, according to the county government. Officials are working to close the shelter at Rymfire Elementary School.

“We nevertheless urge residents to use caution,” the county's Emergency Management Director Jonathan Lord said in a prepared statement. “We will still be having some tropical storm-like conditions, but they are not as intense as initially anticipated.”

The shelter will be closed as quickly as possible while making sure people who evacuated can safely transition back home, according to the county.

For storm updates people can check flaglercounty.gov/emergency.

― Sheldon Gardner

Volusia and Flagler County power outages

As of about 8 a.m., 455 customers had power outages in Volusia County, according to a national power outage tracker. That's out of 315,008 customers tracked. In Flagler 163 out of 70,118 tracked customers had power outages. It's not clear how many of those outages are storm-related.

― Sheldon Gardner

Idalia moving inland as of 8 a.m.

The eye of Idalia is moving just inland across the Big Bend region of Florida’s Gulf Coast, generating catastrophic storm surge and damaging hurricane-force winds as a major Cat 3 storm, according to the latest 8 a.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center.

In Volusia and Flagler counties, a Tropical Storm warning remains in effect, part of an area under that advisory that stretches north from Sebastian Inlet to Surf City, North Carolina. Volusia and Flagler also are under a tornado watch until 3 p.m.

At 8 a.m., the eye of Hurricane Idalia was located by Tallahassee radar near latitude 29.9 North, longitude 83.5 West. Idalia is moving toward the north-northeast near 18 mph.

A north-northeastward motion is expected through the morning, with Idalia's center forecast to move into southern Georgia later Wednesday. Idalia is forecast to turn toward the northeast and east-northeast, moving near or along the coasts of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina late Wednesday and Thursday.

Maximum sustained winds are estimated near 120 mph with higher gusts.  Idalia is a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.  Although Idalia will weaken further now that the center is inland, it is likely to still be a hurricane while moving across southern Georgia, and near the coast of Georgia or southern South Carolina late Wednesday.

Idalia is forecast to be a tropical storm while moving near the coasts of northeastern South Carolina and North Carolina Wednesday night and on Thursday.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 25 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 175 miles.

The minimum central pressure is 950 mb (28.05 inches) based on aircraft data.

In the latest local advisory from the National Weather Service in Melbourne, showers and squalls associated with outer rain bands from Idalia pushed inland across the Florida peninsula this morning.

As Idalia moves across the Florida Big Bend, the possibility of strong wind gusts in squalls will increase as tropical storm force winds extend well south and east of the storm`s center.

Even as the storm moves north of the area this afternoon, conditions will remain quite windy. A Wind Advisory has been issued for portions of the area, beginning at 10 a.m.

In addition to strong wind gusts, a threat for tornadoes will continue through the day in Volusia and Flagler due to increasing wind shear associated with Hurricane Idalia. Volusia and Flagler are both under a tornado watch until 3 p.m. on Wednesday. The NWS advises that you ensure you have multiple ways to receive warnings, including NOAA Weather Radio and local media.

Incoming Atlantic swell from Major Hurricane Franklin, combined with winds from Idalia, is leading to high seas, rough surf, an increase in life-threatening rip currents, and beach erosion during high tides through today.

– Jim Abbott

Hurricane Idalia makes landfall

The Category 3 storm made landfall in the Big Bend near Keaton Beach as of 7:45 a.m. according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm's maximum sustained winds were still at 125 mph at landfall.

― Sheldon Gardner

Idalia a Category 3 hurricane as of 7 a.m.

Idalia is now a Category 3 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, as it moves across the Big Bend on Florida’s Gulf Coast, according to a 7 a.m. update from the National Hurricane Center.

Radar and Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft data indicate that an eyewall replacement cycle has begun.  Idalia's maximum sustained winds are now estimated near 125 mph with higher gusts.  This change in wind speed does not diminish the threat of catastrophic storm surge and damaging winds, the update stated.

The estimated minimum pressure indicated by Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft data is 947 mb.

Within the past hour, a C-MAN station on Cedar Key measured sustained winds of 47 mph (76 km/h), with a gust to 55 mph and a Weatherflow station at Apalachee Bay measured a sustained wind of 43 mph, with a gust to 55 mph.  A Florida Coastal Monitoring Program tower near Lake City recently reported a wind gust to 51 mph.

In Volusia and Flagler counties, a Tropical Storm warning remains in effect, part of an area under that advisory that stretches north from Sebastian Inlet to Surf City, North Carolina.

In the latest local advisory from the National Weather Service in Melbourne, showers and squalls associated with outer rain bands from Idalia have pushed inland across the Florida peninsula this morning.

As Idalia accelerates towards the Florida Big Bend over the next few hours, conditions locally in Volusia and Flagler counties will deteriorate further. The possibility of strong wind gusts in squalls will increase as tropical storm-force winds extend well south and east of the storm`s center.

Idalia is currently making its closest pass to east-central Florida. Even as the storm moves north of the area this afternoon, conditions will remain quite windy. A Wind Advisory has been issued for portions of the area, beginning at 10 a.m.

In addition to strong wind gusts, a threat for tornadoes will continue through the day in Volusia and Flagler due to increasing wind shear associated with Hurricane Idalia. The NWS advises that you ensure you have multiple ways to receive warnings, including NOAA Weather Radio and local media.

Incoming Atlantic swell from Major Hurricane Franklin, combined with winds from Idalia, is leading to high seas, rough surf, an increase in life-threatening rip currents, and beach erosion during high tides through today.

– Jim Abbott

Volusia and Flagler under tornado watch

The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for 33 counties, including Volusia and Flagler, until 3 p.m. A tornado watch means tornadoes are possible in and near the watch area. The weather service advises those under a watch to be ready to act quickly if a warning is issued or they suspect a tornado is approaching.

― John Dunbar

How will Idalia affect Volusia, Flagler today? 

In Volusia and Flagler counties, a tropical storm warning remains in effect, part of an area under that advisory that stretches north from Sebastian Inlet to Surf City, North Carolina.

In the latest local advisory from the National Weather Service in Melbourne, showers and squalls associated with outer rain bands from Idalia have pushed inland across the Florida peninsula this morning.

As Idalia accelerates toward the Florida Big Bend over the next few hours, conditions locally in Volusia and Flagler counties will deteriorate further. The possibility of strong wind gusts in squalls will increase as tropical storm force winds extend well south and east of the storm's center.

Idalia is currently making its closest pass to east-central Florida. Even as the storm moves north of the area this afternoon, conditions will remain quite windy. A wind advisory has been issued for portions of the area, beginning at 10 a.m.

Gusty squalls will be capable of torrential downpours today. Around one-half to 1 inch of rain is forecast for coastal areas and Okeechobee County this morning, and one to 2 inches is forecast west of I-95 from Brevard and Osceola counties northward, with locally higher amounts possible.

By 5:30 a.m., 1 to 2 inches of rain had already fallen from Osceola County to Volusia County. Locations in closer proximity to the center of Idalia, generally along and northwest of Interstate 4 in east-central Florida, may receive higher rainfall totals.

– Jim Abbott

Will tornadoes be part of Idalia’s impact in Volusia, Flagler? 

In addition to strong wind gusts, a threat for tornadoes will continue through the day due to increasing wind shear associated with Hurricane Idalia. The NWS advises that you ensure you have multiple ways to receive warnings, including NOAA Weather Radio and local media.

– Jim Abbott

What is the danger from rip currents from Idalia in Volusia, Flagler? 

Incoming Atlantic swell from Hurricane Franklin, combined with winds from Idalia, is leading to high seas, rough surf, an increase in life-threatening rip currents, and beach erosion during high tides through today.

The NWS advises those in east Central Florida not to let your guard down as impacts from Hurricane Idalia will continue to be felt far from the center of the storm, including across areas that include Volusia and Flagler counties.

– Jim Abbott

Stay alert for updates through the day

Have multiple ways to receive tornado warnings in the event they are issued for your area and continue to monitor the latest updates from the National Weather Service in Melbourne and National Hurricane Center.

– Jim Abbott

What will be Idalia’s impact beyond Florida? 

Farther north, a hurricane warning has been issued for the east coast of the United States from Altamaha Sound Georgia to Edisto Beach South Carolina. A storm surge warning has been issued from St. Catherine's Sound to South Santee River South Carolina.

A hurricane watch has been issued from Edisto Beach South Carolina to South Santee River.

At 5 a.m., the eye of Hurricane Idalia was located by Tallahassee radar near latitude 29.1 North, longitude 84.1 West. Idalia is moving toward the north-northeast near 18 mph.

A north-northeastward motion is expected through the morning, with Idalia's center forecast to reach the Big Bend coast of Florida this morning. After landfall, Idalia is forecast to turn toward the northeast and east-northeast, moving near or along the coasts of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina late today and Thursday.

Hurricane Hunter aircraft data indicate that maximum sustained winds have increased to near 130 mph with higher gusts. Idalia is a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

While Idalia should weaken after landfall, it is likely to still be a hurricane while moving across southern Georgia, and near the coast of Georgia or southern South Carolina late today.  Idalia should emerge off the southeastern United States coast early on Thursday and move eastward through late week.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 25 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 175 miles.

The estimated minimum central pressure is 940 mb based on aircraft data.

– Jim Abbott

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Hurricane Idalia had 'minimal' impact on Volusia