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Jacksonville, FL (October 7, 2024) – A devastating accident occurred early Sunday morning on Interstate 95, resulting in the tragic deaths of a woman and a young girl, as well as critical injuries to several children. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the incident took place around 2:20 a.m. near Pecan Park Road.

Reports indicate that a woman from Jacksonville was driving southbound in the northbound lanes for reasons that remain unclear when her vehicle collided with another car. The crash claimed the life of the 3-year-old girl who was a passenger in the woman’s vehicle, along with the driver. Additionally, three other child passengers, aged 1 to 5 years old, sustained critical injuries. The driver of the other car, a 42-year-old man from Jacksonville who was traveling in the correct direction, also suffered serious injuries.

The Florida Highway Patrol’s report did not clarify whether the woman was related to the children involved in the accident. It was noted that neither the adults nor the children were wearing seatbelts or using child restraints at the time of the collision.

This tragic incident is part of a concerning trend in the area, as it follows the recent deaths of three teenagers from Jacksonville and Neptune Beach in separate traffic accidents, two of whom were pedestrians.

Our thoughts are with the families affected by this heartbreaking accident.

Wrong-Way Accidents in Florida

Wrong-way accidents are a serious concern in Florida, contributing to numerous fatalities and injuries each year. These types of collisions often occur when drivers mistakenly enter a highway or roadway in the opposite direction, leading to catastrophic outcomes.

In 2023, Florida reported hundreds of wrong-way crashes, many resulting in severe injuries or fatalities. Factors contributing to these incidents can include driver impairment, distracted driving, or simply a lack of awareness of road signs. The consequences of wrong-way accidents can be devastating, not only for those involved but also for the wider community.

It is crucial for drivers to remain vigilant and adhere to traffic laws to prevent such tragedies. Ensuring that all passengers are properly restrained in vehicles is a vital safety measure that can significantly reduce the risk of injury in the event of a collision.

If you or someone you know has been involved in a wrong-way accident or any other type of traffic incident, it is essential to seek legal guidance promptly. Understanding your rights and options can help you navigate the complexities of insurance claims and potential compensation for injuries sustained.

Local Accident Reports is your trusted resource for post-accident support. We’ve compiled essential information and resources for accident victims like you. Our comprehensive database provides key details and support options for those affected by accidents. We’re here to support your recovery process with valuable resources and information. Contact us today to learn how we can assist in your recovery journey.

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THE LATEST ADVISORY

Wind speeds - 165mphDirection - E 9 mph Pressure - 914 mb Hurricane Milton rapidly strengthened from a Category 1 into a major Category 5 storm within 10 hours Monday morning. The pressure continues to drop with wind speeds of 175 mph. Milton will remain over warm waters, allowing it to intensify.

The brief pressure drop to 897 millibars at 7 p.m. CDT Monday makes Milton the fifth-strongest storm in the Atlantic Basin's history by barometric pressure.

It's expected to make landfall along Florida's west coast Wednesday.

Hurricane Watches and Warnings have been issued along Florida's coast from Cedar Key south to Naples.

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Hearst Owned

Parts of Florida's west coast face a threat of life-threatening storm surges and hurricane-force winds. Residents should be prepared and stay updated on their local forecast.

Hearst Owned

Most forecast models take Milton across Central and South Florida.

Hearst Owned

Intensity models has Milton making landfall as a Category 3 storm near the Tampa Bay area.

Hearst Owned

Heavy rainfall (5-8 inches) is expected in Florida with higher totals over the western coast. Flash flooding, urban flooding, and river flooding are possible, especially Tuesday through Wednesday.

Hearst Owned

Dangerous storm surge could raise water heights 8-12 feet in Tampa Bay and surrounding areas.

Hearst Owned

Damaging winds are expected beginning Tuesday night or early Wednesday.

Will Alabama see impacts?

This system will not bring any direct impacts to Alabama as it tracks east, though coastal areas should monitor the forecast closely.

Swells generated by the storm will heighten the surf and rip current risk along the northern Gulf Coast by early next week.

WVTM 13

>> LATEST NOAA HURRICANE OUTLOOK: Highly active hurricane season forecast in the Atlantic

For the latest weather coverage for your area, click here. Stay updated with alerts in the WVTM 13 app. You can download it here.

With Hurricane Milton on course to lash Northeast Florida with high winds and heavy rain beginning Oct. 9, local officials announced closures of schools and public offices and told residents to brace for widespread power outages.

In an Oct. 7 news conference, Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan said schools and city offices would be closed Oct. 9 through Oct. 11 due to the storm. Deegan said the hurricane, which has reached Category 5 strength, was expected to dump up to 10 inches of rain in portions of Jacksonville and produce winds of 40-50 mph with gusts of 60-70 mph beginning the afternoon of Oct. 9.

Deegan said tidal flooding of 2-4 feet is expected in Ortega, Riverside, San Marco, Southampton, Downtown and Moncrief neighborhoods.

Office closures from Oct. 9-11 also include the Duval County Tax Collector, Property Appraiser and Supervisor of Elections. The Duval County Courthouse, State Attorney’s Office and Office of the Public Defender will be closed on those days as well.

For more closures, visit www.jaxready.com/milton#accordion.

Deegan said the latest forecasts called for 4-6 inches of rain in Duval County, and as much as 10 inches, “in a very short period of time.”

She said the rainfall was the biggest difference in the local effects of Hurricane Milton compared to Hurricane Helene, which dropped a relatively small amount of rain in Duval County.

The outer bands of the storm are expected to arrive in Northeast Florida during the early afternoon Oct. 9, then peak that evening into the morning of Oct. 10. Officials are forecasting an increase in tidal flooding Oct. 10 and possibly Oct. 11.

Shelters for people

The city has opened six shelters. They are:

• Arlington Middle School, 8141 Lone Star Road, for the general population.

• Atlantic Coast High School, 9735 R.G. Skinner Parkway, for residents with special medical needs, pet friendly.

• Chaffee Trail Elementary, 11400 Sam Caruso Way, for general population.

• Landmark Middle School, 101 Kernan Blvd. N., open for general population, pet friendly.

• LaVilla School of the Arts, 501 N. Davis St., for general population.

• The Legends Center, 5130 Soutel Drive, open for general population and special medical needs, and pet-friendly.

The Jacksonville Transportation Authority will offer free rides to shelters Oct. 9. It will also provide a shuttle from Ken Knight Drive to The Legends Center starting Oct. 9 at the corner of Ken Knight Drive and Moncrief.

Shelter for cars

In addition, residents wanting to shelter their vehicles can park them for free in public Downtown parking garages beginning the morning of Oct. 8. Open garages are:

• Water Street, 541 Water St.

• Ed Ball Building, 238 W. Monroe St.

• Yates Building, 200 E. Adams St.

• Duval Street, 33 W. Duval St.

• Kings Avenue, 1201 Kings Ave.

Contacted by president

Deegan said a local state of emergency would take effect at 8 a.m. Oct. 8. She said she had been contacted by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who offered federal assistance.

“I’m very grateful for that given all the needs they’ve actively had to address in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas,” she said.

JEA crews recalled

Deegan said JEA had recalled crews that had been deployed to the Florida Gulf Coast and North Carolina and was working to bring in extra manpower.

In a news release on the afternoon of Oct. 7, JEA said it was working to bring in as many crews as possible.

“However, thousands of utility restoration crews remain in areas of the Southeast still recovering from Hurricane Helene, and many will be deployed to assist other areas of Florida,” the release said.

“We ask for customers’ patience and understanding as longer-than-normal service restoration times may be possible.”

Ferry to close, buses still running

The St. Johns River ferry will shut down after its 10:45 a.m. crossing Oct. 8 and will reopen Oct. 11, while the Skyway will shut down on the evening of Oct. 8 and remain closed through Oct. 10.

The Jacksonville Transportation Authority buses will operate on a normal schedule but with JTA officials prepared to suspend service at any time based on weather conditions.

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Hurricane Milton is already shutting down schools and businesses in Northeast Florida.

Duval and St. Johns County school districts announced they will close Wednesday through Friday. All school activities, including athletics and after-school programs, are canceled.

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Clay and Nassau County schools will close Wednesday and Thursday.

Elsewhere:

Senior News Editor

Randy comes to Jacksonville from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, where as metro editor, he led investigative coverage of the Parkland school shooting that won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for public service. He has spent more than 40 years in reporting and editing positions in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio and Florida.

Keep Reading

News Murray Hill underpass is about to get lit

By Casmira Harrison

A final design could be reviewed next week for a light display at the underpass of Edgewood Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard in Murray Hill.

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For several years, Texas artist Bill Fitzgibbons has been working toward what he had hoped would be an engaging and colorful artistic display that would literally highlight the Murray Hill gateway under Roosevelt Boulevard at Edgewood Avenue.

Fitzgibbons’ grand vision of a performance of lights across the small corridor has dimmed somewhat since 2019 — largely due to the Florida Department of Transportation’s stringent rules for roadway decor — but the sculptural light artwork may soon come to fruition.

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There will be no red, green or yellow in the color scheme. Those are traffic-light colors, so they’re a no-no. And rules about flashing lights are particular, and they cannot run along the ground. Plus, there are concerns about which events and celebrations can even be marked with a light display. The artist has created a single light program using blue and purple.

“With all these restraints, I came up with this program that I’ve since sent to the Florida Department of Transportation,” Fitzgibbons told an artwork committee tasked with reviewing his design this week. “The down lights that have to be static — I have alternating blue, purple, blue, purple, blue, purple. But they can’t move. They can’t change. And then the lights that are lighting the ceiling — I have them on a system where they’ll start off all one color, either all blue or all purple, and then one at a time, the lights will jump.”

He said that despite the rules, there is at least a bit of color changing.

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“I think it’s actually a very good light program,” said the artist, who attended the meeting remotely.

Next week, Fitzgibbons’ final design — called “Jacksonville Spectrum” — is expected to get a final review by the Art in Public Places Committee. But even if all goes to plan, the design could change yet again based on the transportation department’s final word.

The lighting work is one part of a much more expansive, $7.66 million roadway project that aimed to improve traffic flow in the area. Roundabouts were added at Edgewood Avenue South and Plymouth Street, just ahead of a railroad crossing and the underpass itself. State transportation officials have said the construction should improve traffic flow for drivers entering or exiting Roosevelt Boulevard at the southeastern end of the Edgewood Avenue business district.

Largely, that roadway project is complete. And District 7 Councilman Jimmy Peluso has been very ready to see the culmination of the artist’s work. In a phone interview Friday, Peluso said he feels the community will be pleased.

When the plan was first proposed, he said, it was expected that there would be a light show, a “cool artistic piece” and some beauty added to “a boring, concrete structure.”

“I think we’re still getting that,” Peluso said. “I think most people have been seeing the work getting done, and they expect something cool, and I think there will be something cool.”

The $50,000 project started out back in 2019, having been approved by City Council legislation. Costs include $45,000 for artist fees and materials and $5,000 for ongoing maintenance. Since that time, there was a pandemic, which delayed progress, and an amended project to include a mural went back to City Council to be approved again. It was.

Of the $45,000, $25,000 is going to muralist David Nackashi for the more traditional artwork at the location entitled “The Birds on 17.” That piece was completed in May.

Fast-forward to this week, and Fitzgibbons had a lot to share about how this project has progressed compared to others.

“The pandemic has made this the strangest public art project I have ever participated in,” Fitzgibbons told the art selection panel Monday.

The artist gave his first presentation about the underpass design more than four years ago, and he entered into a contract to provide the light program. Then? Nothing. No emails, calls, communication of any kind about the project, he said.

“Years actually went by, and earlier this year, I got a call,” Fitzgibbons said. “I said, ‘What are you talking about?’”

He expected to oversee the design, the purchase of lighting, the installation by a general contractor.

“None of that happened,” the artist said. “And I was shown a photograph of the lights already installed.”

His experience in Florida has been drastically different from that of his home state of Texas, where the transportation department gave him a much wider range of permissions. There, he was allowed to have about 12 different programs that are exchanged throughout the year.

“One of the biggest events is Fiesta,” Fitzgibbons said, talking about a project he oversaw in Texas. “Ten minutes before midnight on New Year’s Eve, for 10 minutes there is a sparkle program to celebrate the beginning of the new year.”

That has not been the case here in Florida. But Kat Wright, director of public art for the nonprofit Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, said both the city and the Cultural Council remain eager to see Fitzgibbons’ purple and blue display finally be shared with the neighborhood. And, subject to any regulatory requirements that FDOT imposes, of course, “we should be good to go.”

In a phone interview Friday, Wright said she doesn’t fault the state transportation department. The rules are there for safety. Instead, she continues to look at this project as a pilot program. If it is the start of more similar projects across the state, she said, “that would be a huge win, I think.”

Here at the Murray Hill-Avondale gateway, Wright said the community could see something live by mid-October.

“We have a Microsoft Teams meeting on October 10, starting at eight o’clock, to do field testing for this particular program,” Wright said during the meeting. “It could be that it may need modifications for a minute or two because it’s FDOT… The lighting has always been particular in the sense that it could be construed as traffic signals.”

Peluso cautioned against such a “robust” target date. He said he hopes to see the project up and running by New Year’s Eve.

Still, no holiday light displays are set in stone quite yet.

“There’s going to be ongoing conversations with (the state transportation department) about what can and can’t get done,” Peluso said, adding that winter holidays, Thanksgiving, spring or other changes are all up in the air at this point.

“It’s going to be FDOT that runs the colors, not the artist himself,” the councilman said. “That might have been something that people weren’t expecting.”

The art selection panel unanimously gave its recommendation for approval, and the project now heads to the Art in Public Places Committee for a final vote Wednesday. Should the committee give its OK, team meetings to test the artwork could occur as soon as Thursday.

The Art in Public Places Committee will meet at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Jessie Ball duPont Center, 40 East Adams Street in Room 201 on the second floor.

Reporter email

Casmira Harrison is a Jacksonville Today reporter focusing on local government in Duval County.

Hurricane Milton is already causing flight cancellations and airport closures in Florida days ahead of its expected landfall.

The hurricane is churning in the Gulf of Mexico on a path toward Florida's Gulf Coast. Forecast maps show Milton could make landfall early Thursday in or near the Tampa Bay area.

Hurricane Milton flight cancellations

St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport, which serves the Tampa Bay area, announced on Monday that all of its flights are canceled for Wednesday and Thursday.

"The airport is in a mandatory evacuation zone and is not a public shelter," it said. "Prepare and stay safe."

Tampa International Airport (TPA) said it will suspend operations at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Other flight cancellations and delays are expected across Florida as the storm approaches and hits the state. Milton is forecast to remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida and into the Atlantic Ocean, according to forecasters.

Which Florida airports are open and closed?

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