What to know about flooding risk during hurricane season
As a hurricane approaches land, much of the concern and worry can be on the wind speeds of the storm, but one of the biggest dangers in a hurricane is flooding caused by storm surge and heavy rain.
The National Hurricane Center warns on its website that storm surge is responsible for the most deaths during hurricanes.
In 2020, Hurricane Sally dumped two feet of rain in the Pensacola area and its winds brought five feet of storm surge.
The storm surge flooded areas of downtown Pensacola and coastal areas in Escambia County, especially in the Perdido and Innerarity Point communities.
Far from the coast, low-lying areas near creeks flooded like the Bristol Park subdivision in the Cantonment area.
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Escambia County Public Safety Director Eric Gilmore said the county provides an online tool to look up your address to see if you live in a potential evacuation zone that's threatened with storm surge at MyEscambia.com/KnowYourZone.
"Know your zone, first and foremost," Gilmore said.
The five different zones, cover areas that will see storm surges in a hurricane. As a storm approaches the county will issue evacuation orders for the different zones depending on the forecast.
When it comes to flooding, the county provides sand for people to fill sandbags and protect their property.
Gilmore said if your home is at risk of flooding, it's best to have an evacuation plan.
"Do whatever you can do to best protect your property," Gilmore said. "And if you need to get out, then you need to get out, and you need to take your important documents with you."
Gilmore said during Sally, first responders from the county performed many high water rescues of people trapped in their homes. First responders can't respond during the height of the storm because it's too dangerous, and so many calls have to wait until winds subside, he said.
"If we ask you to evacuate a zone, first and foremost, understand that during the height of the storm, it is not safe for us to be out to do rescues," Gilmore said. "So if you do become trapped, and you did not heed the orders, and you do call 911. There might be a period during that storm that the response personnel can't get out."
While the county has a map of storm surge areas, maps of other flood-prone areas can be harder to rely upon.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency produces flood zone maps but Chris Curb with Flood Defenders said FEMA flood maps aren't the best source to assess the risk of floods.
Curb said one of the better public sources to assess flooding risk is FloodFactor.com which pulls data from FEMA as well as other sources to give a better picture of flooding risk.
"Stormwater (maps) is based on models and the data that you use to predict those models," Curb said. "And right now, FEMA's models and actually stormwater designs are being put in based off of obsolete data."
FEMA's most recent maps are based on data from 2012, and a lot of flood protection infrastructure is designed based on rainfall data that only runs to the 1960s.
Curb said factors like sea-level rise and climate change are increasing the risk to a property chance of flooding in future years.
"As the climate changes more, we're getting worse and worse storms every year," Curb said. you're missing a word or something here.
Gilmore said if you've moved recently into the county, the best source about potential flooding risk is to talk to your neighbors.
"Talk to your neighbors, if you're new to the area," Gilmore said. "Ask them how they fared during Sally, and it'll give you a good benchmark about what you need to do to protect your property your residence."
Jim Little can be reached at jwlittle@pnj.com and 850-208-9827.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola flood risk: What to know for 2022 hurricane season
