JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Even though Hurricane Milton is gone there are still flooding concerns for Jacksonville.
Milton moved quickly through Florida and while Gov. Ron DeSantis said it was not as terrible as it could have been, many rescue teams had to be called.
“The storm was significant but thankfully this was not the worst-case scenario,” DeSantis said in his Thursday morning news conference.
He shared that in parts of Florida, the National Guard had hundreds of rescuers engaged and over 125 active missions in 26 different counties.
“State search and rescue teams report at least 48 individuals have been rescued as of 6:30 a.m.,” DeSantis said. “National Guard search and rescue teams have worked overnight and successfully executed rescues of families and pets on the West Coast.”
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Lt. Jonathan Ervin, dive commander for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said rescues can be dangerous missions because it’s hard to know what Mother Nature will do.
“We have to react to those scenarios and those circumstances and that’s why we train and that’s why the sheriff’s office and the fire department, we try to work together to make sure we have a cohesive response and that we’re mitigating hazards where we can,” Ervin said. “But at the end of the day when the citizens of Jacksonville need us, we’re going to go and we’re going to do the best we can to pull them to safety.”
There were no rescues overnight in Jacksonville. But Police in Clearwater had to travel by boat to rescue people following the hurricane, and rescuers in Orange County had to wade through flood waters.
Flooding is still a concern in Jacksonville with the high tide in neighborhoods that normally see water like Riverside and San Marco. Lieutenant Ervin said the dive teams are on standby in case they’re needed.
“We’re ready to respond should that call come in. We’re piped in. Our teams and JFR teams are piped in through the EOC to be able to dispatch together or independently to go make those rescues if the citizens need us,” Ervin explained.
Lieutenant Ervin said if you find yourself stuck in a flooded area, you should seek higher ground and not walk through flooded waters unless you absolutely have to.
Also, he said if you’re in a car, you shouldn’t drive through flooded waters because a lot of times people get stuck and it can create an emergency response that could have been avoided.