Flood Watch in Effect for Freeport Through Monday Morning
Freeport remains under a Flood Watch through Monday at 8 a.m., with the National Weather Service warning that flash flooding remains possible as another round of tropical downpours targets the Florida Panhandle.
The National Weather Service office in Tallahassee issued the Flood Watch at 2:09 a.m. Sunday, and it covers every zone in Walton County — North Walton, where Freeport sits, along with Central Walton and South Walton — plus Holmes, Washington, inland Bay and inland Gulf counties. The watch runs through Monday morning, meaning residents face nearly a full day and night of elevated flood risk before conditions are expected to improve.
Forecasters say an additional 2 to 6 inches of rain could fall across most of the watch area, with locally higher amounts of up to 10 inches possible along the Emerald Coast. A tropical air mass parked over the region is producing very high rain rates, and heavy storms that repeatedly track over the same neighborhoods can quickly push totals higher.
Sunday morning already offered a preview of what the watch warns about. Flash Flood Warnings and a string of Flood Advisory bulletins popped up across Walton and Bay counties before dawn as thunderstorms dropped 1 to 3 inches of rain over parts of the area, triggering minor flooding in low-lying spots and ponding on roads. Soils left saturated by that early round of rain will make it easier for the next bands of heavy rain to run off rather than soak in.
The weather service cautions that excessive runoff could flood rivers, creeks and streams, inundate low-lying and flood-prone locations, and pool in urban and poor-drainage areas. Residents in flood-prone neighborhoods should monitor later forecasts and be prepared to take action if Flash Flood Warnings are issued, and drivers should never attempt to cross a flooded roadway — turn around, don’t drown.
Originally reported by the National Weather Service Tallahassee. Image: Generated weather alert graphic based on NWS Tallahassee alert data.
