Eta’s second Florida landfall floods cities, traps dozens in cars and homes
By
Brian Lada, AccuWeather meteorologist and senior content editor &
Mark Puleo, AccuWeather staff writer
Updated Nov 13, 2020 10:06 AM EDT
It took until early November before Florida took a hit from a tropical system in what has been a relentless and record-setting Atlantic hurricane season, and now the Sunshine State has had two landfalls in less than one week.
Eta made landfall near Cedar Key 4:20 a.m. EST early Thursday morning. Maximum sustained winds were estimated at 50 mph when the storm came ashore.
After beginning to douse the area on Wednesday before its Thursday arrival, the storm left the Tampa Bay area soaked and swamped while many of its residents were stranded.
Immediate reports of roofs being torn off of homes and flooded streets have poured in from the region. According to Duke Energy, over 57,000 along the western coast of the state were without power, as of Thursday morning. By 8 p.m. on Thursday night, however, that number had dwindled to just over 2,000 affected customers as over 2,000 Duke Energy workers restored power to households throughout the day.
Shortly before 6, the city of Tampa released a list of 18 streets that had been forced to close due to the tropical storm, according to the Tampa Bay Times. At least nine of those streets were deemed impassable due to extensive flooding.
Eta's second Florida strike hit with slightly less intense rain totals but equally, if not more, impressive wind gusts. According to local reports, a max of 9.77" inches of rain were recorded in Wimauma. The strongest winds were recorded in the Sparkman Channel, an inlet in Tampa, at 83 mph. Multiple buoys and locations in the surrounding area also reported winds topping 60 mph.
Through Thursday morning, no reports of injuries or fatalities related to the storm have emerged.
In Pinellas County, the Sheriff’s Office Dive Team assisted in performing 33 rescues of trapped residents in homes and roadways. Using inflatable boats, the rescue team reached people in areas officers couldn’t reach.
Long before landfall, however, conditions were deteriorating along Florida’s Gulf coast on Wednesday as Eta approached.
On Wednesday night, video surfaced of the glowing purple sky -- some described it as pinkish -- ahead of Eta’s arrival. The vibrant sunset blanketed the area of Dunedin, Florida, capturing an eerily calm moment for a place that was about to be dealt an unfamiliar blow from a tropical system.
Although the southern portion of Florida is no stranger to storm impacts, the majority of systems strike the southern tip or eastern side of the state’s coast.
“I’ve lived in St. Petersburg now for well over five years and in Florida for about 15 years. I’ve never seen Tampa Bay like this,” AccuWeather National News Reporter Jonathan Petramala said on Wednesday. “Surf is already up and coastal erosion is already beginning ahead of Hurricane Eta that’s making its way right here to the west coast of Florida.”
Multiple streets were left flooded on Thursday morning upon Eta's second landfall in Florida. (AccuWeather/Brandon Clement)
The state of emergency that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis originally declared for southern Florida when Eta hit the area on Sunday was expanded on Wednesday to include 13 counties along or near the state’s Gulf coast, The Associated Press said. DeSantis also asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for an emergency declaration to help Floridians with the storm in the short term and with cleanup in the long term, which President Trump approved on Wednesday evening.
The Tampa Bay area was hit hard on Wednesday with some of the heavier rain bands from Eta prompting tornado warnings. One of these warnings included more than 500,000 people in and around the St. Petersburg area, including where Petramala was reporting from throughout the day.
Schools in the St. Petersburg area dismissed students early on Wednesday and will be closed on Thursday due to Eta, the AP reported.
Storm surge inundated coastal areas all along the western coast of the Florida Peninsula, reaching more than 3 feet above normal tide level in Naples and Fort Myers, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jesse Ferrell. These readings were recorded around low tide, meaning that higher storm surge may have occurred prior to landfall.
Unrelenting downpours made the flooding issues even worse with more than 6.25 inches of rain falling in Sarasota, Florida, on Wednesday. This is more rain than three times of what typically falls in the town in the entirety of November.
“Well-known trouble spots are trouble,” Petramala said. “[In] Shore Acres in St. Petersburg, there’s a lot of areas on the streets here that are already submerged from Eta.”
The Florida Highway Patrol also closed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge due to the risk of high winds, The AP said.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
A road in St. Petersburg submerged due to flooding from Eta. (AccuWeather/Jonathan Petramala)
A tropical system making landfall in Florida in November is rare to begin with, but hitting this particular part of the coast is something that has never happened in the month of November. In fact, tropical landfalls along the entire United States Gulf Coast are rare in November with only 12 landfalls occurring since record-keeping began in 1850, according to Ferrell.
This unusual storm track follows the trend Eta, which has zig-zagged across the Caribbean, through the Florida Straits and over the eastern Gulf of Mexico, set since its formation on Oct. 31. Its strike on Central America was when it was at peak intensity -- a Category 4 storm -- and caused major flooding and more than 100 fatalities.
AccuWeather meteorologists are tracking a disturbance that is forecast to enter the Caribbean Sea and organize into a named tropical system in the coming days, putting the entire region on alert yet again for a potential strike from a tropical system before the season is over.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo
News / Hurricane
Eta’s second Florida landfall floods cities, traps dozens in cars and homes
By Brian Lada, AccuWeather meteorologist and senior content editor & Mark Puleo, AccuWeather staff writer
Updated Nov 13, 2020 10:06 AM EDT
It took until early November before Florida took a hit from a tropical system in what has been a relentless and record-setting Atlantic hurricane season, and now the Sunshine State has had two landfalls in less than one week.
Eta made landfall near Cedar Key 4:20 a.m. EST early Thursday morning. Maximum sustained winds were estimated at 50 mph when the storm came ashore.
After beginning to douse the area on Wednesday before its Thursday arrival, the storm left the Tampa Bay area soaked and swamped while many of its residents were stranded.
Immediate reports of roofs being torn off of homes and flooded streets have poured in from the region. According to Duke Energy, over 57,000 along the western coast of the state were without power, as of Thursday morning. By 8 p.m. on Thursday night, however, that number had dwindled to just over 2,000 affected customers as over 2,000 Duke Energy workers restored power to households throughout the day.
Shortly before 6, the city of Tampa released a list of 18 streets that had been forced to close due to the tropical storm, according to the Tampa Bay Times. At least nine of those streets were deemed impassable due to extensive flooding.
Eta's second Florida strike hit with slightly less intense rain totals but equally, if not more, impressive wind gusts. According to local reports, a max of 9.77" inches of rain were recorded in Wimauma. The strongest winds were recorded in the Sparkman Channel, an inlet in Tampa, at 83 mph. Multiple buoys and locations in the surrounding area also reported winds topping 60 mph.
Through Thursday morning, no reports of injuries or fatalities related to the storm have emerged.
In Pinellas County, the Sheriff’s Office Dive Team assisted in performing 33 rescues of trapped residents in homes and roadways. Using inflatable boats, the rescue team reached people in areas officers couldn’t reach.
Long before landfall, however, conditions were deteriorating along Florida’s Gulf coast on Wednesday as Eta approached.
On Wednesday night, video surfaced of the glowing purple sky -- some described it as pinkish -- ahead of Eta’s arrival. The vibrant sunset blanketed the area of Dunedin, Florida, capturing an eerily calm moment for a place that was about to be dealt an unfamiliar blow from a tropical system.
Although the southern portion of Florida is no stranger to storm impacts, the majority of systems strike the southern tip or eastern side of the state’s coast.
“I’ve lived in St. Petersburg now for well over five years and in Florida for about 15 years. I’ve never seen Tampa Bay like this,” AccuWeather National News Reporter Jonathan Petramala said on Wednesday. “Surf is already up and coastal erosion is already beginning ahead of Hurricane Eta that’s making its way right here to the west coast of Florida.”
Multiple streets were left flooded on Thursday morning upon Eta's second landfall in Florida. (AccuWeather/Brandon Clement)
The state of emergency that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis originally declared for southern Florida when Eta hit the area on Sunday was expanded on Wednesday to include 13 counties along or near the state’s Gulf coast, The Associated Press said. DeSantis also asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for an emergency declaration to help Floridians with the storm in the short term and with cleanup in the long term, which President Trump approved on Wednesday evening.
The Tampa Bay area was hit hard on Wednesday with some of the heavier rain bands from Eta prompting tornado warnings. One of these warnings included more than 500,000 people in and around the St. Petersburg area, including where Petramala was reporting from throughout the day.
Schools in the St. Petersburg area dismissed students early on Wednesday and will be closed on Thursday due to Eta, the AP reported.
Storm surge inundated coastal areas all along the western coast of the Florida Peninsula, reaching more than 3 feet above normal tide level in Naples and Fort Myers, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jesse Ferrell. These readings were recorded around low tide, meaning that higher storm surge may have occurred prior to landfall.
Unrelenting downpours made the flooding issues even worse with more than 6.25 inches of rain falling in Sarasota, Florida, on Wednesday. This is more rain than three times of what typically falls in the town in the entirety of November.
“Well-known trouble spots are trouble,” Petramala said. “[In] Shore Acres in St. Petersburg, there’s a lot of areas on the streets here that are already submerged from Eta.”
The Florida Highway Patrol also closed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge due to the risk of high winds, The AP said.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
A road in St. Petersburg submerged due to flooding from Eta. (AccuWeather/Jonathan Petramala)
A tropical system making landfall in Florida in November is rare to begin with, but hitting this particular part of the coast is something that has never happened in the month of November. In fact, tropical landfalls along the entire United States Gulf Coast are rare in November with only 12 landfalls occurring since record-keeping began in 1850, according to Ferrell.
This unusual storm track follows the trend Eta, which has zig-zagged across the Caribbean, through the Florida Straits and over the eastern Gulf of Mexico, set since its formation on Oct. 31. Its strike on Central America was when it was at peak intensity -- a Category 4 storm -- and caused major flooding and more than 100 fatalities.
AccuWeather meteorologists are tracking a disturbance that is forecast to enter the Caribbean Sea and organize into a named tropical system in the coming days, putting the entire region on alert yet again for a potential strike from a tropical system before the season is over.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo