Flash Flood in Florida, October 15, 2008

Name: Flash Flood in Florida, October 15, 2008
Start: 2008-10-15T10:33
End: 2008-10-15T12:00
Location: Florida

October 15, 2008 · NWS JAX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

S. Highway 1 at the Nassau and Charlton county line.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS JAX wrote it up.

The Nassau County Emergency Management reported a levee failure on Hampton Lake in northwest Nassau county, located near U.S. Highway 1 at the Nassau and Charlton county line. The levee had been compromised during recent tropical storms, and the owners neglected to fix the problem. The Nassau County Sheriffs office was evacuating some homeowners downstream of the lake and closed Lake Hampton road between U.S. Highway 1 and Kings Ferry Road.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Jacksonville, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 15, 8:39 AM EST, 1 hour 54 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 15, 8:39 AM EST, 1 hour 54 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSONVILLE FL
939 AM EDT WED OCT 15 2008

...WARM AND DRY CONDITIONS EXPECTED THE NEXT FEW DAYS...

.PUBLIC UPDATE...PATCHES OF CUMULUS CLOUDS CONTINUE TO MOVE
ONSHORE OVER NORTHEAST FLORIDA WHERE LOW-LEVEL FLOW CONTINUES TO
ACQUIRE A MORE ONSHORE COMPONENT. FOR TODAY...ANTICIPATE MOSTLY SUNNY
SKIES FOR SOUTHEAST GEORGIA AND AREAS GENERALLY WEST OF U.S. HIGHWAY
301 IN NORTHEAST FLORIDA...WITH PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES ACROSS THE
BALANCE OF JAX CWA. AS ADVERTISED...MEAN LAYER RIDGE WILL PROMOTE
WARM AFTERNOON READINGS...RANGING FROM LOWER 80S AT THE COAST TO
UPPER 80S OVER THE INTERIOR. ONLY FORECAST ISSUE THROUGH THE
SHORT-TERM WILL BE FOG DEVELOPMENT GIVEN STABLE CONDITIONS COUPLED
WITH AMPLE MOISTURE NEAR THE SURFACE.

&&

.AVIATION...ALTHOUGH VFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED THIS FORECAST
CYCLE...WILL NEED TO CLOSELY MONITOR FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF FOG
DEVELOPMENT BETWEEN 09Z-12Z.

&&

.MARINE...SWELLS HAVE FURTHER SUBSIDED...WITH COMBINED SEAS NOW IN
THE 4 TO 6 FOOT RANGE. THUS...HAVE REPLACED SCA WITH SCEC FOR OUR
OFFSHORE LEGS...WITH NO HEADLINES FOR OUR NEARSHORE LEGS.
OTHERWISE...A DECREASING TREND IN WINDS AND SEAS WILL CONTINUE AS
HIGH PRESSURE SETTLES OVER THE AREA. AFTER COORDINATION...WILL DELAY
FRONTAL PASSAGE TO ALIGN MORE WITH NAM12 REPRESENTATION LATE IN THE
WEEK.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...WITH INCREASING TEMPS AND A BETTER MIXING PROFILE...
LOOKS AS THOUGH IT WILL BE A CLOSE CALL FOR PORTIONS OF THE SUWANNEE
VALLEY TODAY. AT THIS TIME...SHORT DURATIONS (I.E., 3 HOURS OR LESS)
OF CRITICALLY LOW RH VALUES WILL PRECLUDE ISSUANCE OF RED FLAG
WARNING.

&&

.JAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...

FL...NONE.
GA...NONE.
AM...NONE.

&&

.PREVIOUS PUBLIC...UPPER HIGH WILL CONTINUE TO SLOWLY SINK
S OVER THE AREA TODAY. CONTINUED SUBSIDENCE BENEATH THIS FEATURE...
ALONG WITH WEAKENING LOW-LEVEL FLOW...SHOULD PUT AN END TO WHAT
LEFTOVER VERY LIGHT SHOWERS PRESENTLY EXIST.

REMAINING FCST IS MOSTLY A TEMPERATURE AND FOG FORECAST. WITH
SUBSIDENCE AND RISING THICKNESSES...TEMPS WILL RANGE FROM THE MID
80S ALONG THE COAST TO NEAR 90 OVER INLAND AREAS THRU THE END OF
THE WORK WEEK. WITH IDEAL RADIATIONAL COOLING AT NIGHT...TEMPS
WILL DROP TO THE MID TO UPPER 50S.

BEST FOG DEVELOPMENT CONDITIONS WILL SHIFT S EACH OF THE NEXT
SEVERAL NIGHTS AS LOW-LEVEL DRYING CONTINUES. BY FRI MORNING...
FOG DEVELOPMENT SHOULD BE MOSTLY CONFINED TO THE SE 1/4 OF THE
AREA.

LONG TERM...LATEST GFS HAS WEAK COLD FRONT MOVING ACROSS THE AREA
LATE FRI NIGHT AND EARLY SAT. PRECIP FIELD STILL LOOKS ANEMIC AS
THE FRONT TRAVERSES THE AREA. HIGH PRESSURE BEHIND THE FRONT WILL
ALLOW COOLER AND DRIER AIR INTO THE REGION OVER THE WEEKEND...WITH
NE TO E FLOW AND ISOLD MAINLY COASTAL SHOWERS RETURNING BY EARLY
NEXT WEEK. TEMPS ON THE WEEKEND WILL BE NEAR TO SLIGHTLY BELOW
NORMAL...WITH SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL TEMPS EARLY NEXT WEEK.

&&

ECZ

Hazardous weather outlook, Oct 15, 8:07 AM EST, 2 hours 26 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSONVILLE FL
907 AM EDT WED OCT 15 2008

FLZ020>025-030>033-035>038-040-GAZ132>136-149>154-162>166-161000-
ALACHUA-APPLING-ATKINSON-BACON-BAKER-BRADFORD-BRANTLEY-
CAMDEN (COASTAL)-CAMDEN (INLAND)-CHARLTON-CLAY-CLINCH-COFFEE-
COLUMBIA-DUVAL-ECHOLS-FLAGLER-GILCHRIST-GLYNN (COASTAL)-
GLYNN (INLAND)-HAMILTON-JEFF DAVIS-MARION-NASSAU-PIERCE-PUTNAM-
ST JOHNS-SUWANNEE-UNION-WARE-WAYNE-
907 AM EDT WED OCT 15 2008

THIS OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST FLORIDA AND SOUTHEAST GEORGIA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT...

...MODERATE RISK OF RIP CURRENTS AT AREA BEACHES TODAY...

ONSHORE WINDS AND PERSISTENT SWELL WILL KEEP A MODERATE RISK OF RIP
CURRENTS AT AREA BEACHES TODAY. REFER TO THE LATEST SURF ZONE
FORECAST FOR MORE INFORMATION.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY...

AREAS OF FOG ARE EXPECTED THURSDAY NIGHT.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT REQUESTED AT THIS TIME.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION...VISIT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
IN JACKSONVILLE WEBSITE ON THE INTERNET AT WEATHER.GOV/JAX.

SC/EZ

The radar

The Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 41 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 15:35 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Nassau

When: October 15, 10:33 AM EST to 12:00 PM EST
Where: Nassau County, 0.48 mi N of Boulogne Welcome Stn to 0.5 mi N of Boulogne Welcome Stn
Cause: Dam / Levee Break
Reported by: NWS Storm Survey
Coordinates: 30.777, -81.970

Lake Hampton Road was closed to flood water steadily leaving the lake. Most of the water that was leaving the lake was flowing under Lake Hampton Road through culverts as the lake eventually drained into the St. Marys River. Several trees had been washed into the drainage basin area between the levee and culverts and the debris was being monitored to ensure that it did not clog the culverts.

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Florida in 2008 Every state in 2008 This day in weather history Warnings in Florida, October 2008

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 133914.