FL

Storm restoration across Walton County

Walton County sits on Florida's Emerald Coast with roughly 26 miles of Gulf-front shoreline, making its southern communities acutely vulnerable to hurricane storm surge; Hurricane Eloise (1975) made direct landfall near Grayton Beach and Hurricane Opal (1995) produced a 13-foot surge that eroded an estimated 3.6 million cubic yards of sand and destroyed sections of U.S. 98. The county's low-lying coastal barrier strand faces Category 1-4 hurricane tracks that funnel through the eastern Gulf, while inland areas north of the bay experience high wind loads and freshwater flooding from rainfall-driven runoff into the Choctawhatchee River basin. More than 93 percent of the county's census blocks carry documented coastal flood exposure, and the combination of dense short-term rental development along 30A and a rapidly growing permanent population amplifies post-storm restoration demand across roofing, siding, windows, and structural drying.