FL

Storm restoration across Hardee County

Hardee County is a landlocked agricultural county in central Florida with no coastline, so it faces no direct storm surge, but it is acutely vulnerable to catastrophic inland flooding driven by the Peace River, which bisects the county through Wauchula. During Hurricane Ian (September 2022), 15-20 inches of rain caused the Peace River to crest at 27.3 feet - the highest recorded level in county history - triggering 115 boat rescues, closing 99 roads, and resulting in at least two deaths, with only 1.3 percent of the county's 8,000 households holding federal flood insurance. Hardee County experiences destructive straight-line winds and widespread power outages from landfalling Gulf Coast hurricanes, including near-total grid loss during Hurricane Milton (2024) when almost all 9,600 tracked energy connections went down. The county receives FEMA major disaster declarations regularly and ranks among Florida's most economically vulnerable counties when storm damage occurs.