It’s been a wet summer along the Emerald Coast, with three times the normal amount of rain falling in some areas in July alone.
Inlet Beach received more than 50 inches since Memorial Day. Eglin Air Force Base waded in more than 47 inches and Navarre saw almost 40 inches.
The rain caused the Choctawhatchee River to flood twice this summer. Storms also hit roads hard, particularly in Walton County.
A portion of one of the most heavily-traveled, County Road 30A, is still closed to vehicles after it was washed away by flooding from Big Redfish Lake.
Repairs can’t come quickly enough for business owners along 30A, which carries tourists and locals to destinations such as Seaside, Grayton Beach and Alys Beach.
And it’s still the tropical season, so more rainy weather is possible, said Jim Bolden, the observation program leader for the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.
“September is still a fairly wet month,” Bolden said.
The rain’s effect on local cotton, pea and soy crops is still unknown.
The wet weather has delayed the corn harvest and started a hay shortage this year, said Jennifer Bearden, agriculture agent with University of Florida IFAS in Okaloosa County.
After previously dry and then average years, no one anticipated this summer, Bearden said.
“It was a wild card year,” Bearden said.
