The National Weather Service placed Freeport under a Hurricane Watch Wednesday afternoon, naming the city alongside Santa Rosa Beach and Sandestin as locations in the path of Tropical Storm Isaias as it gathers strength in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Walton County Board of County Commissioners will convene a special meeting Thursday morning in DeFuniak Springs to consider declaring a local state of emergency ahead of Tropical Storm Isaias, with evacuations and county office closures also on the agenda.

Walton County’s newly elected officials will be sworn into office Tuesday, November 17 at 8:30 AM, the Board of County Commissioners announced this week. The public ceremony takes place in the BCC Boardroom at 571 E Nelson Avenue in DeFuniak Springs, with light refreshments provided.

Registration opened Wednesday, October 7 for Freeport’s new adult kickball league, the city announced. Team captains can now sign their squads up for the fall season.

The proposed Emerald Coast Motor Club — a 751-acre private motorsports destination planned for land west of US 331, about three miles south of Interstate 10 — is drawing new scrutiny over whether its rural Walton County location can support the scale its developers envision, with the county’s technical review now extended to October 21.

The National Weather Service has extended the Flood Watch covering Freeport through Monday at 8 p.m., adding 12 hours to the flood-risk window residents have been under since early Sunday 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 Walton County Planning Commission will hold its next regular meeting on Thursday, October 8, 2026, at 4:00 PM at the Freeport Board Room, located at 842 State Highway 20 East in Freeport.

Fifteen healthcare organizations will bring mobile clinics to rural Walton County under a $46.4 million federal grant, aiming to cut the hour-plus drives residents make to see a doctor.

City of Freeport offices will close Monday, October 12, in observance of Indigenous Peoples Day, with all city administrative offices reopening at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, October 13.