Tropical Storm Colin: 'We've been through worse'
Tropical Storm Colin brought heavy rain, storm surge and minor flooding to the Big Bend on Monday in what some coastal residents called a test run for hurricane season.
In the small town of St. Marks, residents and workers spent the day preparing for Colin. They secured boats, moved vehicles to higher ground and stocked up on supplies like water and coffee. But few seemed terribly concerned about the tropical storm.
“We’re not worried,” said John Hargan, bartender at the Riverside Cafe. “We’ve been working all morning buttoning everything up. St. Marks is a very tight community — we always help each other out.”
Scott declares emergency as Colin takes aim at North Florida
In 2005 — the busiest and costliest hurricane season on record — Hurricane Dennis sent as much as 10 feet of storm surge into St. Marks, flooding restaurants and stores.
Colin’s impact was much smaller. By Monday afternoon, water was only a half-foot deep on Riverside Drive just off the St. Marks River. Many of the handful of businesses along the river closed for the night but planned to reopen Tuesday. A couple of them later reported some water in their buildings.
Brian Mugrage, a commercial fisherman and night cook at Riverside Cafe, moved the beer supply and planned to tie tables and chairs to a wooden pole. But he didn’t expect anything like he saw 11 years ago, when he rode out Dennis inside the restaurant and swam through chest-high waters.
“It’s a good fire drill,” he said of Colin. “Because I have a feeling that we’re going to have a season similar to 2005.”
Kelly Godsey, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tallahassee, said the weak tropical storm brought heavy rain to parts of the area and coastal flooding in Franklin, Taylor and Wakulla counties.
There were no reports of widespread damage or power outages in the area. Aside from gusts in Taylor County, winds didn’t approach tropical-storm strength in the Big Bend.
“It’s a good reminder of why we all need to be prepared,” he said. “We need to take every storm seriously. We still have six months of hurricane season left.”
Nearly 4 inches of rain fell at Tallahassee Regional Airport by early evening, though one location in eastern Leon County reported more than 10 inches. A few roads in the eastern and northern part of the county closed because of high water, as did Alligator Point Road at the coast.
Gov. Rick Scott declared an emergency Monday in 34 counties, including Franklin, Jefferson, Wakulla and Taylor counties. The governor postponed a meeting in New York with presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump to remain at the Capitol and monitor the storm.
In Leon County, the Emergency Operations Center only partially activated. The city and county offered sandbags at several locations.
In St. Marks, Daphne Beckham, owner of Cooters Stew Cafe, hung out with friends and coworkers, unfazed by Colin’s approach. She, too, has survived far stronger storms — Dennis destroyed the popular Posey’s restaurant she owned with her husband, John Gunter.
“This is what we call a day off in the South,” said Beckham, who closed the grill but offered beer to customers who wandered by. “We’ve been through worse. We’ll get through this.”
Capitol reporter James Call contributed to this story.
