St. Johns County Addresses North Beach Flooding

• 25 June 2024
• Category: SJC News Beaches Legislative Affairs
• Tags: 2024

St. Johns County hosted a community forum, a boat tour with elected officials, and a press conference on Friday, June 21, to share options that will address stormwater flooding in North Beach area neighborhoods due to outfalls from the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). The activities included participation from Joy Andrews, St. Johns County Administrator; Scott Beaver, St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office Director of Patrol; Greg Caldwell, St. Johns County Public Works Director; Henry Dean, St. Johns County District 5 Commissioner; Rep. Cyndi Stevenson, Florida House of Representatives, District 17; and U.S. Congressman John H. Rutherford, U.S. House of Representatives, District 5. The County’s Office of Public Affairs produced a video to recap the activities.

Significant storms that have impacted North Beach since 2016 include Hurricanes Matthew (2016), Irma (2017), Ian (2022), and Nicole (2022). During the community forum, the County’s Public Works Department discussed several options to construct a bulkhead along the ICW from Euclid Avenue to 23rd Street.

“What a wonderful morning we had taking a hard look at that area north of here, which is under a substantial risk of flooding even during summer storms, not to mention Nor’easters and hurricanes,” Commissioner Dean said.

“FEMA has potentially two programs that I think we are going to be able to tap into to assist with some of the funding that’s going to be required to protect these properties,” Congressman Rutherford said.

The County’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs will seek state and federal funds later this year to complete the project.