Before strengthening to a Category 1 hurricane late Sunday night, and making landfall near Steinhatchee, Tropical Storm Debby spent a sloppy weekend soaking Southwest Florida, closing roads, canceling events, pushing into waterfront buildings and washing out recovering dunes.
For a region still battling back after the devastation of Hurricane Ian, it was an unwelcome dose of PTSD, as reopened businesses found themselves once again in storm mode, with the storm's strongest rains coming right at high tide.
Winds in Southwest Florida got gusty, but well below hurricane strength of 74 mph.
In Lee County, speeds ranged from a high of 55 mph at Cape Coral's Tarpon Point to 46 mph at Page Field in Fort Myers, dropping to the low 20s inland. Lehigh Acres clocked 20 mph, Ruskin-based National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Anderson said. Collier's wind gusts ranged from 57 mph in Naples and 50 in Ochopee in the Everglades to 39 in the county's emergency operations center, Miami-based National Weather Service Forecaster Ana Torres-Vazquez said. (The Ruskin office covers Lee; Miami covers Collier.)
In Lee County, between 3 and 6 inches of rain fell in 24 hours, Ruskin-based National Weather Service Forecaster Paul Close said Monday morning, with the highest totals recorded at the Fort Myers Beach water plant. In Collier, the range was from 7 inches in Golden Gate to 2 1/2 inland.
Lee County's storm surge, measured in the Caloosahatchee's estuary off Cape Coral, was about 3.25 feet, said Anderson. "That's above the average high tide," he said. No surge measurements were available for Collier, Torres-Vazquez said
Lee County: Debby invades Fort Myers Beach businesses, closes some preserves
Low-lying coastal areas and barrier islands had it the worst: Bonita Beach's Hickory Boulevard was impassable and closed by the Lee County Sheriff's Office.
On Fort Myers Beach, more than a foot of water closed Nervous Nellies and nearby businesses
"We've got about 18 inches in the middle of the street," General Manager Danny Timothy told The News-Press. "Our sidewalk all the way across, is flooded, and we've actually got water in our hostess area."
But after being battle-tested by Ian, which kept it dark more than a year, Nellies kicked into hurricane mode: move furniture, hoist up the elevator "and just wait for it to pass,” Timothy said.Plans were to mop up and reopen Monday, the same day the town declared a local state of emergency, which allows it certain disaster-related spending and emergency management powers.
Lee Sheriff Carmine Marceno cranked up the department's 5,000-pound "swamp buggy," which can plow through four feet of water to rescue the storm-stranded.
The storm closed Bunche Beach Preserve, Lynn Hall Memorial Park and access No. 4 of Bonita Beach Park, and affected some parking areas along Bonita Beach, said county spokeswoman Betsy Clayton. The closures are temporary, she wrote in an email; park patrons can monitor Lee County social media or www.LeeGov.com for updates.
Flooding in Naples, Marco Island, Everglades City
In Collier County, roads closed in downtown Naples and 40 flooded/stranded vehicles were reported to the Naples Police Department in roads or parking lots over the weekend, said Lt. Bryan McGinn, a spokesman. About half of the vehicles caused road blockages and had to be removed, he said.
Debby also swamped Everglades City, Chokoloskee, Marco Island and Goodland. "We've helped some people out and we’ve driven a couple of people home," said Marco Island Fire Chief Chris Byrne. "We have our high-water vehicle out."
Arterial Collier Boulevard flooded from end to end, with side roads underwater. A flooded parking lot closed the island's Residents Beach as well.
The Collier County Sheriff's Department closed the Goodland Bridge off the island because of flooding, and traffic off of Jolley Bridge was slowed and sometimes stopped because of flooding.
The parking lot of Tin City, a popular downtown Naples tourist destination, had about 18 inches of water Sunday afternoon, not from rain but surge from high tide, according to Riverwalk Restaurant manager Sara Badder. No water got inside the restaurant.
On Monday morning she swept up some minor debris on the boardwalk to get ready to open.
Riverwalk closed Sunday at around 1 pm.
“It was dead anyway,” she said. “We were going to close anyway.”
Tin City management was onsite early Monday and inside the shops were getting ready for business as usual.
Pure Florida, a boat sightseeing tour business at Tin City in Naples, was lucky with no damage to its boats. It started prepping Saturday bringing in boats to floating piers so that was not an issue during high tide Sunday, said Greg Dyer, the director. "We are too good at this," he said. "Too much practice."
The office did take in about six inches of water, which he said is lower than the rest of Tin City.
The sight-seeing business was going to stay closed Monday and reopen Tuesday.
Despite tornado warnings issued by the National Weather Service none seem to have touched down during the Atlantic's fourth-named storm of the season.
On Sunday, Naples experienced a "storm surge and an extreme high tide of 3.3 feet amid one of Debby's stronger bands," said Monique Barnhart-Tiberio, the city's public information officer. That caused numerous roads to flood, but they were drivable by Monday.
"The fire department had to rescue at least four people trapped in their vehicles by high water," Barnhart-Tiberio said.
The city saw minimal tree loss and the city's water and wastewater treatment plants "operated without issues," although some sanitary sewer pumping stations filled up with stormwater, she said.
Storm revealed infrastructure problems that have 'not been addressed for years'
Naples Mayor Teresa Heitmann said the storm once again proved the city must tackle infrastructure issues that have "not been addressed for years."
"Little here and there is not a plan," she said. "We have the information and council's focus should be to address them as priorities. We have developed lot line to lot line, and we need to be more efficient in looking at all of our development."
She added: "We cannot afford not to, and our community expects us to."
Electricity: Off in places, then back on
Intermittent power outages plagued the region as the storm passed.
At one point, much of Captiva was dark, as were pockets of Sanibel and inland Lehigh Acres, Lee County Electric Cooperative reported, but by Monday, all but two outages had been restored: one in Marco Island and another in North Fort Myers.
Debby downpourMarco Island, Goodland hit by tropical storm; roads under water
The rain-swollen Caloosahatchee filled Cape Coral canals, and lapped over seawalls in Fort Myers, North Fort Myers, Alva and Olga as the storms east or "dirty side" passed slowly through the region, with its bands extending 140 miles from its center.
Traffic lights were out throughout the Cape, the police department reported amid widespread flooding, and restoration was expected Monday morning.
Lee County's Sanibel, Captiva, Cayo Costa hit by Debby's storm surge, rough surf
With storm surge and rain peaking around afternoon high tides, some roads on Sanibel and Captiva were underwater. On social media, Sanibel’s Fire and Rescue District noted that areas on the island were flooding, and officials urged residents to stay put: “Please avoid these areas and seek different routes if possible … These areas may begin to worsen as we approach high tide," it said. "Do not drive through any standing water."
After a reconnaissance drive, City Councilwoman Holly Smith reported many island roads "like rivers.”
On nearby unbridged Cayo Costa, waves battered docks and raked regrowing dunes.
Island homeowner Margi Nanney watched the storm from the mainland via remote camera. Videos from the island’s south end on Pejuan hook show water overtopping the slatted enclosure around a well casing.
By Monday morning, the worst of it had receded, though all Sanibel City Beach Parking areas remained closed. A few roads were still flooded, though most were flowing freely.
Collier flooding 'not an operational failure'
Naples' Fifth Avenue was pretty much spared from flooding except areas closer to US 41, said Ruth Dutes, manager of Bar Tulia.
Collier County Commission chairman Chris Hall said the high tide Sunday as the tropical storm passed worsened the situation in North Naples.
"We not only experienced additional storm surge, but effectively did not have a low tide to help alleviate those high-water conditions," he said. He said the earliest he expected relief from the tidal conditions was on Tuesday.
"We are looking at all options available to move water, but this is not an operational issue. We are dealing specifically with Mother Nature via tide and surge," Hall said.
He added: "It is very important to distinguish that heavy rains did exacerbate the situation, but are not the main cause of the flooding and inability to move water more aggressively."
He dispelled "rumors" that the county didn’t “turn pumps on until flooding occurred,” or that the county is only concerned with drainage in new developments. "Please know, the county has taken every precautionary measure before the storm to help alleviate stormwater backups. Some communities, like Naples Park and Bonita Shores operate on a gravitational system and not pumps. The county does not come out and turn pumps on and off," Hall said.
He continued: "Operationally, water has to have somewhere to go with these systems. The county drew down the canals and waterways several days prior to this tropical storm. Pumps and systems ran around the clock to accommodate those plans and make as much room for oncoming stormwater to go."
He asked residents to be patient."I repeat, this is not an operational failure or neglect by Collier County. Again, with onshore winds, high tide and storm surge, there is just no place for water to recede," Hall said.
Off area beaches: Surf's up!
One group welcomed Debby's waves: daredevils with boards.
Never mind the warnings about lightning, tornados and currents.
As the storm crashed against the Naples pier, they headed into the normally calm Gulf to ride the waves.
Contributing: Mark H. Bickel, J. Kyle Foster, Liz Freeman, Mickenzie Hannon,Laura Layden, Cindy McCurry Ross, Andrew West,
