CLAY COUNTY — Tropical Storm Debby was brief, but it left a lasting effect on Clay County.

Some homeowners living along Lazy Acre Road, Scenic Drive and Red Bug Alley in Middleburg were awakened Tuesday by portions of the north prong of Black Creek lapping at their front doors. The surge was caused by a tropical storm that meandered through North Florida late Monday. 

Many of the houses along Black Creek are on stilts. During gales of wind and torrential downpours, homeowners scrambled to move valuables to the second floor or higher ground as the waterline advanced underneath. 

Opaque water from Black Creek crested at 20.13 feet. On Tuesday, the Clay County Division of Emergency Management projected a crest of at least 19.5 feet.

Tom Morris, a homeowner on Red Bug Alley, and his family trudged through the flood water to their house, carrying pizza boxes. 

“No, I don’t think the pizza delivery driver would’ve wanted to come through here,” Morris said laughingly. “I don’t think we’ll expect any Amazon packages, either.”

The county warned residents earlier in the day “who live near the creek to be vigilant, monitor the creek level, and be prepared to leave if necessary.”

Despite the sporadic flooding along the Black Creek, the county was spared the storm’s most damaging effects. The bands seemed to hit areas south and north of the county hardest, making rainfall the most significant storm threat.

“If you honestly look at the maps the hurricane center put, Clay County and Putnam County weren’t even in the initial storm force wind, the warnings and watches until the very last minute,” Clay County Director of Emergency Management Tim Devin said.

“We only had 12 hours to get things done. Now, of course, we pre-planned, we talked. We have things in place ahead of time. Nobody knew how fast it was going to get here. Nobody had the exact direction until it came off of Cuba,” he said.

Devin said neighboring Baker County got 10 inches of rain from Debby while Clay County got five inches.

That was little solace for people along Black Creek.

Buddy said the Black Creek spilled over the bulkhead onto his property at about 10 a.m. His house did not flood during Irma. However, it did with Debby. 

“We were on the bad side of the storm. Everything from Jennings Forest to the Creek flooded. We had water coming from every direction with nowhere to go,” he said. 

“We’re not worried about anything inside the house or any water getting into it; we have to move everything underneath the house. We’re trying to get everything up as high as we can.”

The south prong of Black Creek crested at 15.54 feet.

“If it rose anymore, we were going to evacuate the animal shelter, which we had a plan for,” Devin said. “We had equipment. We had everything set up if we had to pull that trigger. We could have moved them quickly.”

Debby made landfall Monday in Taylor County at 7 a.m. It then started its slow trek across northern Florida and southern Georgia, bringing large amounts of rain to some areas.

In preparation, Emergency Management opened two general population shelters Sunday: Keystone Heights Elementary and Orange Park High. A special needs shelter was open at Lake Asbury Junior High. Those shelters were open for two nights. They closed the shelters on Tuesday.

The storm was forecasted to bring tropical storm conditions to Clay County later Monday before it exited the eastern coast near Savannah, Georgia, Tuesday.

County offices, the Department of Health Clay County, and Waste Management garbage and recycling services were closed on Monday because of the storm. All services, including libraries, senior centers and the Rosemary Hill Solid Waste Facility, resumed normal operations on Tuesday. Trash pickups were delayed by a day, and crews will run on Saturday to finish routes.

There was a brief power outage for as many as 6,400 customers, while 3,000 were without power for a few hours. Still, service was quickly restored by the four providers in the county – Clay Electric Cooperative, Green Cove Springs Electric, Florida Power and Light and JEA.

With that much rain and periods of wind gusts, Devin and Sheriff Michelle Cook still urged residents to stay home and avoid large puddles of water, downed trees and power lines.

Devin said that after the rain stops, the runoffs from the surrounding areas will continue funneling into the St. Johns River and Black Creek.

Starting Wednesday, the county spent the rest of the week assessing damages.