Page 119 - Winterling's Chasing the Wind

I had moved to the Beauclerc section of Jacksonville because of the nice neighborhood
and because of its location with regard to the St. Johns River. Severe winter freezes can
be moderated by the wide St. Johns River along its waterfront. The western side of the
river may have temperatures in the middle 20s, while properties only a block or two
east of the river may be only a couple of degrees below freezing. But with temperatures
in the teens and winds 10 to 20 mph, precautions had to be taken to protect exposed
pipes and tender plants in places along the St. Johns River eastern shore.

With freezes like the ones in 1983 and 1985, I had to assemble a temporary “shed” over
and around my exposed citrus trees. In fact, the soil heat inside the shelter was not
enough to keep the trees from freezing. I had to run water sprinklers inside the
enclosures to provide additional heat.

CHAPTER 35 - Extreme Weather – Rain and Snow
When it came to reporting local rains and floods, I first became aware of Black Creek
flooding around May 2, 1964. Ernie Mynatt, who lived by Doctors Lake, was a teenage
weather watcher who reported 7 inches of rain that was causing heavy flooding in the
Middleburg area. Ernie was a faithful reporter rainfall in this area until he graduated
from high school and moved to Texas. I was shocked to learn that this promising young
man was shot and killed by a robber when he worked.

Growing up in Jacksonville, I was well acquainted with the places in the city that
flooded during heavy thunderstorms. The McCoy Boulevard and the Myrtle Street
Underpasses below the railroad always had water ranging from one to three feet deep.
On Myrtle Street, the overhead clearance of less than 10 feet often smashed the tops of
trucks whose drivers failed to heed the danger signs. Several downtown corners like
Clay and Adams Streets and Laura and Beaver collected enough water to threaten
adjacent buildings. College Street in Riverside flooded all the way to the Foremost
Dairy near Roosevelt Blvd. Many Murray Hill streets were so much lower than
adjacent properties that they turned into rivers or storm drains. In the 1950s, the
Sandalwood subdivision was one of the first new areas where residents discovered they
faced drainage problems during heavy downpours.

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