We Dodged a Bullet With Helene. With Hurricane Matthew, Not So Much

A Look Back to October 2016 With Photos of Green Cove Springs

St. Mary’s Episcopal Church is on a low-lying plot of land, which often floods.

Hurricane Matthew was an extremely powerful tropical cyclone which caused catastrophic damage and a humanitarian crisis in Haiti, as well as widespread devastation in the southeastern United States. The deadliest Atlantic hurricane since Hurricane Stan in 2005, and the first Category 5 Atlantic hurricane since Felix in 2007, Matthew was the thirteenth named storm, fifth hurricane and second major hurricane of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season. It caused extensive damage to landmasses in the Greater Antilles, and severe damage in several islands of the Bahamas which were still recovering from Joaquin, which had pounded the archipelago nearly a year earlier. Matthew also approached the southeastern United States, but stayed just offshore, paralleling the Florida coastline.

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Thanks for that summary, Wikipedia. Let’s add a sentence about Green Cove Springs:

And in Green Cove Springs, Florida, a city of about 11,000 people on the St. Johns River, Hurricane Matthew sure did create a lot of mischief.

Instead of 50 to 60-mph winds in Matthew, shown above, winds for Helene averaged about 5 mph with gusts up to about 40 mph--not the tropical-storm conditions that had been forecast.

This boat that crashed up against the city pier and sank during Matthew belonged to Bob and Pam Lewis. She was the city mayor. They had taken the boat off the dock at their riverfront home and anchored her, thinking she’s be safer off the dock than on it, but the anchor dragged. The boat was a total loss.

An estimated 85 percent of docks on the St. Johns were damaged.

Boats that took shelter at the Outback Crabshack dock on Six Mile Creek did okay.

And there was plenty of inland action as well.

And a video from a liveaboard sailor at Reynolds Park Yacht Center: