When Joey Ziebelman woke up for work Wednesday morning, it was the first time he’d seen the sun in five days.
He was trapped inside his home in Jacksonville while Tropical Storm Debby formed in the Gulf of Mexico on June 23. On June 26, he drove to Gainesville with his windshield wipers on.
Like Ziebelman, many Gainesville residents and UF students didn’t fear the storm’s 60 mile-per-hour winds would put them in danger. Instead, about a foot of rainfall in several areas of the city caused concern.
Weak steering currents kept Tropical Storm Debby from traveling along its original forecasted path toward Texas, according to the National Weather Service. Instead, it idled in the northeast Gulf of Mexico, resulting in a continuous downpour in Gainesville during the first half of the week.
One measuring station in southeast Gainesville recorded 12.32 inches of rain from June 23 to June 26, according to the National Weather Service. On average, the city receives 7.12 inches of rainfall during June.
Megan Wetherington, a hydrologist with the Suwannee River Water Management District, called the storm a “500-year rainfall event.”
“It has a 0.2 percent chance of occurring in any year,” she said.
The heavy rain caused the Santa Fe River to rise 11 feet in one week. A measuring station near Fort White recorded the river peaking at 32.24 feet Sunday; the flood stage is 24 feet.
Wetherington, who works in Live Oak, said her car became trapped in her office parking lot for days after low-lying areas flooded. She said she still felt lucky because the office building didn’t flood.
“If the river hadn’t been so low, it would have been significantly worse.” she said. “And it’s pretty bad now.”
Though the Santa Fe River hit its third-highest peak since 1906, Wetherington predicted the rain from Tropical Storm Debby wouldn’t improve dangerously low groundwater levels by more than a few inches.
“It’s not a dramatic improvement by any means,” Wetherington said. “But it’s a good start.”
She estimated it would take weeks for the rivers to return to normal levels, but it could be below flood stage as soon as next week.
For now, Alachua County has advised people to avoid swimming, tubing, kayaking or canoeing on the stretch of river bordering Alachua County from O’Leno Rise west to Poe Springs. Several businesses, such as Ginnie Springs Outdoors, have discontinued their water activities until further notice.
