JACKSONVILLE, Fla — With all the rain and wind expected to come through our area, it’s important to keep an eye out for flooding. Memorial Park in Riverside actually took a beating a few months ago during Hurricane Idalia.
It had wiped out some of the balustrades at Memorial Park, an area that is no stranger to storm surge and flooding.
Thomas Landy has lived in Riverside for about 30 years, and he says he’s not too worried about the upcoming storm, but says he wants to see some changes.
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“Well it happens so frequently, it’s amazing that there is still grass here after the storms that come through that ravish the place,” Landy said.
Landy says he familiar with the impact storms can have in Riverside.
After Hurricane Idalia busted some of the balustrades here, the city placed temporary barriers. But, Landy says he is not happy about it.
“They need to get it fixed right,” Landy said. “We just want it safe for the people, and we pay for it, it’s ours to enjoy.”
This isn’t the first time this has happened. Back in 2017, Hurricane Irma knocked over the original balustrades, and it took the city five years to fix it. Now, it’s unclear how long these temporary barriers will be here.
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Duval’s chief of emergency preparedness Andre Ayoub says the temporary barriers should be strong enough for now.
“We actually just did a walkthrough with FEMA about a week and a half ago, just to [get] an assessment done, damage assessment, costs and all that,” Ayoub said. “So, I mean, it could be a month to years.”
Ayoub says it’s important to be prepared when storms come through Jacksonville especially in flood prone areas like Hogan’s Creek, San Marco and Riverside.
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“And every year, you hear about somebody going to try and drive through this roadway and getting into a crash, getting injured or even dying,” Ayoub said. “We’ve had that. So why take a chance, especially during the holiday season.”
Our Action News Jax First Alert Weather team says the peak of the storm is expected to happen late Saturday afternoon into early Sunday morning with wind gusts up to 60-plus miles per hour with heavy rainfall.
Ayoub encourages you to hunker down and bring the Christmas decorations inside.
“Just don’t take a chance,” Ayoub said. “Because those objects – with 60 mile per hour gusts – are just going to be flying around. So, bring them into your garage, [into] your house, [and] make sure everybody’s safe around you.”
Ayoub says his team is in touch the with Jaguars stadium, and they are ready for any potential impacts. But it’s a primetime game at 8:20 p.m., so they aren’t concerned.
The city’s ‘Jax Ready’ app will send out alerts the city has about road closures and bridges.
For any weather updates, you can download the First Alert Weather App.
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