Historical Storm Impacts in Jacksonville: Flood Records, Damage and Disaster Declarations

Hurricane Irma did: on September 11, 2017 the St. Johns River at the Main Street Bridge crested at 5.57 feet NAVD88, an all time record stage that passed the Hurricane Dora record of 4.12 feet set in 1964 (NWS Jacksonville Irma report).

The National Weather Service office in Jacksonville wrote in its Irma report that the Main Street Bridge gauge passed the Dora mark that morning at low tide, then crested around 12:30 PM. It blamed a combination of elevated water levels from a nor'easter event, high astronomical tides, river surge and storm rainfall, and it counted about 350 water rescues in Duval County, especially in Riverside, San Marco and downtown Jacksonville (NWS Jacksonville). The Hurricane Dora (1964) guide covers that earlier record in its own right.

This page follows the storms that left an official damage or water level record in Jacksonville and Duval County, and the federal disaster declarations that followed them. The figures come from National Hurricane Center tropical cyclone reports, from the NWS Jacksonville post tropical cyclone reports kept in the Iowa Environmental Mesonet text archive, and from FEMA. Last verified: October 18, 2026, against the NHC reports for Irma, Matthew, Beryl, Ian and Nicole, the archived NWS Jacksonville reports for Matthew and Irma, and the OpenFEMA list of hurricane declarations naming Duval County.

Irma flooded Jacksonville along the St. Johns River: the National Hurricane Center says the St. Johns River set record flood stages at many locations in Duval County, causing major flooding in the Jacksonville metropolitan area, where hundreds of people were rescued (NHC Irma report).

Irma weakened to a tropical storm about 20 nautical miles west of Gainesville, and tropical storm conditions were reported across much of northern Florida, especially to the east of the center. Jacksonville International Airport measured sustained winds of 51 knots with a gust of 75 knots on September 11 (NHC). Along the coast a storm tide sensor at Jacksonville Beach recorded 4.1 feet above Mean Higher High Water, and the Mayport gauge at the Bar Pilots Dock peaked at 3.6 feet above that mark.

Upriver the water ran higher. The NOS gauge at the I-295 bridge on the south side of Jacksonville peaked at 5.3 feet above Mean Higher High Water, the Southbank Riverwalk gauge downtown at 4.9 feet (NHC Irma report). The hurricane center used USGS salinity readings downtown to explain why: salinity rose from under 5 parts per thousand on September 8 to about 30 on September 10 as easterly winds pushed seawater upstream, then fell back on September 11 while the water kept rising, which the report reads as rainfall runoff adding to the surge.

The NWS Jacksonville report lists record flood stages on the tributaries the same day: the Ortega River at Argyle Forest Boulevard at 12.99 feet, Pottsburg Creek at Beach Boulevard at 5.84 feet, Julington Creek at Old St. Augustine Road at 6.20 feet and the St. Johns River at the Dames Point Bridge at 5.05 feet, each at a level where major flooding occurs (NWS Jacksonville). The NHC report counts two direct deaths in Duval County from freshwater flooding (NHC).

Matthew stayed offshore but still left extensive damage from water and downed oak trees on the east side of Jacksonville and knocked out power for nearly 250,000 customers, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC Matthew report).

The hurricane became a category 2 storm around 0000 UTC on October 8, 2016, about 50 nautical miles east northeast of Jacksonville Beach, and then moved north about 50 nautical miles off the Georgia coast (NHC). In Duval County the NOS gauge at Mayport recorded a record 3.28 feet above Mean Higher High Water, passing the 2.48 feet recorded on September 27, 2004 during Hurricane Jeanne.

The beaches took the worst of it. The report describes major to locally extreme beach erosion at Jacksonville Beach, with some sand dunes completely swept away, and says battering waves knocked down and washed away part of the Jacksonville Beach Pier. It adds that storm surge combined with freshwater flooding of the St. Johns River destroyed many properties (NHC Matthew report).

The NWS Jacksonville report gives the local detail: the Jacksonville Beach Pier reported 61 mph winds with gusts to 76 mph on October 7, trees and power lines came down in Ortega, a tree fell on a home in East Arlington and trees blocked roads including 103rd Street, Dunn Avenue and I-95, and Julington Creek at Old St. Augustine Road reached a major flooding storm tide of 4.61 feet NAVD88 (NWS Jacksonville Matthew report).

Three more recent storms have NHC reports with Jacksonville detail: Beryl made landfall at Jacksonville Beach in 2012, and Ian and Nicole raised the St. Johns River and battered the coast in 2022 (NHC Beryl report).

Tropical Storm Beryl made landfall around 0410 UTC on May 28, 2012 near Jacksonville Beach as a 55 knot tropical storm, and the hurricane center calls it the strongest pre-season tropical cyclone of record to make landfall in the United States (NHC). A station at Huguenot Park reported sustained winds of 47 knots, and the lowest pressure on land, 995.0 mb, came from a station in Atlantic Beach. The report says Beryl's rain caused minor inland flooding.

During Hurricane Ian in September 2022, along the St. Johns River water levels reached 2 to 4 feet above ground level; the Mayport gauge measured 2.48 feet above Mean Higher High Water and a gauge on the Buckman Bridge south of downtown measured 3.06 feet (NHC Ian report).

Hurricane Nicole in November 2022 had a wide wind field: sustained winds of 50 knots or more with gusts of 60 to 65 knots were occasionally reported, well away from the center, as far north as the mouth of the St. Johns River (NHC Nicole report). The report says Nicole caused extensive damage from storm surge and beach erosion along the east coast north to the Jacksonville area, but that no figures were available on how many structures were damaged. Tropical Storm Fay in 2008 has its own Tropical Storm Fay (2008) guide.

FEMA's declaration records list 14 major disaster declarations for hurricanes that include Duval County, from Hurricane Gladys in 1968 to Hurricane Milton in 2024, plus 8 emergency declarations (OpenFEMA declarations).

The table shows which storms opened the Individuals and Households program for Duval County: the four 2004 declarations, Matthew, Irma, Helene and Milton (OpenFEMA). The other six carried Public Assistance without the household program for Duval. The emergency declarations include a Hurricane Katrina evacuation declaration on September 5, 2005 and a Tropical Storm Ian declaration on September 24, 2022.

FEMA's own page for the Irma declaration, DR-4337-FL, gives an incident period of September 4 to October 18, 2017 and a declaration date of September 10, 2017 (FEMA DR-4337-FL). Hurricane Dora in 1964 does not appear in the Duval hurricane list, which begins with Gladys.

Official reports give Jacksonville water levels against different references: some figures are stated above Mean Higher High Water, some in NAVD88, and some river crests carry no reference at all.

For Irma, the NHC report gives the Mayport peak as 3.6 feet above Mean Higher High Water (NHC Irma report), while the NWS Jacksonville list of river crests says the St. Johns River at Mayport crested at 5.58 feet on September 11, 2017, at a level where major flooding occurs, without naming a datum for that figure; the storm tide table in the same NWS report, which it says is given with respect to MHHW, lists Mayport at 3.62 feet (NWS Jacksonville). The Main Street Bridge record of 5.57 feet is stated in NAVD88. Neither report reconciles its Mayport number with the other.

The NWS reports also mark themselves as preliminary: the Irma report opens by saying its data are preliminary and subject to updates and corrections, and it was updated on September 19 and September 22, 2017 (NWS Jacksonville Irma report). For what to do before the next storm, the hurricane season guide and the evacuation zones guide cover preparation and zones, and the Jacksonville weather hub lists every weather guide.