Weather was again major news in Palm Beach County in 2024, this time from extreme heat and a tornado that was triggered by the outer bands of Hurricane Milton.
The county’s top stories of the year also included news from perhaps Palm Beach County’s most famous current resident — Donald Trump. A prominent university signed a deal to bring a graduate campus to downtown West Palm Beach and sadly, tragic fatalities dotted the area on water and land.
Here’s a look at the top 10 (in chronological order):
Riviera Beach’s water utility reports that well water had tested positive for E. Coli
A Riviera Beach man has filed suit against the city’s Utility Special District, claiming he was sickened after months of unknowingly drinking water the utility failed to tell residents had tested positive for E. coli.
Water safety became the topic in Riviera Beach in January, when the city’s water utility reported that — six months earlier — well water had tested positive for E. Coli, a fecal contaminant that could sicken or kill those who consume it. The late notification sparked a pair of investigations, one from the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) and another from the Palm Beach County Office of Inspector General (OIG), and it would lead the city water district’s board to strip Michael Low, the utility’s executive director, of his day-to-day duties. Low had stormed out of a public meeting on water safety, and the district is now searching for his successor.
READ THE STORY HERE: Riviera Beach residents misled about safety of drinking water, state health agency finds
MORE COVERAGE: Inspector General’s scathing report rips Riviera Beach’s water utilities leadership
Riviera Beach and FDOH reached an agreement that called for the city’s Utility Special District to pay more than $80,000 in fines and fees, and make a series of changes to its testing and reporting regime, all of which the district made. The OIG investigation found that, in addition to Low making misleading public statements, the district’s compliance director falsified test results, allowing wells to remain in service.
All of it infuriated residents and City Council members, who complained that they had been kept in the dark.
Nine people die in horrific van crash in a canal near Belle Glade
An SUV crash into a canal near Belle Glade, Florida, on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, killed nine people and injured one. The SUV crashed through a metal guardrail along Hatton Highway near Conners Highway as it plunged into the waters, which were more than 6 feet deep.
In one of the worst crashes in Palm Beach County history, nine people died Aug. 5 when a Ford Explorer tumbled into a canal northeast of Belle Glade. The SUV contained 10 members of a family traveling to a South Florida airport after a reunion near Fort Myers.
PBSO: Six of nine people killed in county’s deadliest crash in years were age 15 or younger
MORE COVERAGE: Family of nine Glades fatal crash victims grieves amid ‘nightmare.’ NTSB investigates cause
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash, which took place on the 5800 block of Hatton Highway. One person survived the crash, which saw the SUV fall into a 6-foot-deep canal. Those who died lived in Connecticut and Virginia. Six were children between the ages of 23 months and 14 years.
Man tries to assassinate Donald Trump on West Palm Beach golf course
A 58-year-old man is facing federal assassination charges for targeting then-presidential candidate Donald Trump as he played a round Sept. 15 at Trump International Golf Course in suburban West Palm Beach. Investigators say Ryan Routh traveled to Palm Beach County from North Carolina and positioned himself along the course.
A U.S. Secret Service agent walking ahead of Trump spotted Routh’s rifle pointed toward the course and confronted him. Police arrested Routh a short time later after he had tried to flee north on Interstate 95. Routh, in letters, has admitted to trying to kill Trump.
COVERAGE: Suspect in attempted Trump assassination asks to delay February trial until December
PHOTOS: Images of Ryan Routh, the man accused of trying to assassinate Donald Trump
Record temperatures soar as Palm Beach County sizzles in the summer
Palm Beach County felt the heat this summer, culminating with the hottest September in more than a century in West Palm Beach with all but three days averaging above-normal warmth and two record-breaking high temperatures measured in the mid-90s.
It was also the first September since at least 2009 where meteorologists issued heat advisories for Palm Beach County based on a dangerous combination of high temperatures and humidity. By the end of the month, the number of days with heat advisories totaled 10.
READ THE STORY HERE: West Palm Beach just had its hottest September on record
A record high of 94 degrees was measured at Palm Beach International Airport on Sept. 28, two days after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region. The other record high of 96 degrees was set Sept. 13, breaking the 95 degrees set in 1944.
For the month, September finished with an average temperature of 84.4 degrees in West Palm Beach, 2 degrees warmer than normal, and the highest since records began 131 years ago.
Palm Beach County dodges big storms, but is rocked by tornadoes from Hurricane Milton
Hurricane Milton didn’t make landfall in Palm Beach County, but a tornado it spawned created damage the area rarely has seen in any storm. The EF-3 tornado had winds of up to 140 mph and cut a 20-mile long swath of destruction from Wellington to the northern suburbs.
One of the most heavily damaged areas was Avenir in western Palm Beach Gardens. The city had to condemn a Publix supermarket that was about to open, and crews have already removed about 35,000 wheelbarrows of debris. Damages from the tornado are still being assessed but are expected to be in the millions of dollars.
County and West Palm team up to bring Vanderbilt University graduate campus to downtown
This map shows where the proposed Vanderbilt University business school would be located in downtown West Palm Beach.
Palm Beach County and the City of West Palm Beach approved a deal for Nashville-based Vanderbilt University to build a graduate campus in the downtown area. The contract calls for the private university to spend at least $2.4 billion in the first 25 years and $5.3 billion in the first 50 years “in connection” with the school and related operations.
Both the county and city are envisioning an economic boom the concept will bring to the area.
‘We are overjoyed’: Palm Beach County gives green light to Vanderbilt in West Palm
The county will donate a five-acre parcel of land appraised at $46 million and the city an additional two acres, resulting in Vanderbilt FL owning seven downtown acres worth nearly $60 million. The properties are along South Tamarind Avenue, from Datura Street south to Fern Street, in a section of the city dubbed Government Hill.
At least 90% of the seven acres must be used for educational purposes, but there is an exception for Transit Village that may be temporarily using part of the land for parking.
Trump wins presidential election: The Winter White House returns to Palm Beach County
Palm Beach resident Donald Trump pulled off an epic political comeback by winning the 2024 presidential election on Nov. 5. True to form, the 45th and 47th president held his election watch and celebratory parties at Mar-a-Lago, his private club, and the Palm Beach County Convention Center.
Florida and its 30 electoral votes were never in play, as Trump won the state by a 13-point margin taking 61 of 67 counties. But Florida was still in the spotlight. Trump held a few events here, and a would-be assassin is accused of readying to take aim at him during a round of golf in suburban West Palm Beach.
Trump presidency redux: The transition will take place in Palm Beach County
MORE: Expect Mar-a-Lago to become a bigger MAGA magnet
Now, as he readies to take office again, Trump is bringing a Florida cadre with him, including U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.
Alexcia Cox becomes first Black person and first woman elected as state attorney
Alexcia Cox became the first Black person and the first woman elected as Palm Beach County’s top prosecutor. Voters on Nov. 3 chose her to lead the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office, succeeding Dave Aronberg, who chose to leave office at the end of his third term.
During her 18 years in the office, Cox has been a top deputy to Aronberg and has overseen the agency’s domestic violence and conviction review units.
COVERAGE: Alexcia Cox narrowly defeats Sam Stern for Palm Beach County state attorney
COVERAGE: First woman, first Black elected to Palm Beach State Attorney’s Office
Cox will lead a team of about 115 prosecutors and 180 support staff members, and has promised to create and expand specialized units within the State Attorney’s Office targeting elder abuse, career criminals and robberies.
In a two-week span, five people drown off Palm Beach County coast
Powerful waves produced by high gusts of wind crash down in the Atlantic Ocean at Midtown beach in Palm Beach County.
The first two weeks of November offered a cruel reminder that dangers accompany the beauty of Palm Beach County coastal waters.
Five people died in ocean waters during that span, including a 15-year-old boy in Boynton Beach, a 64-year-old man off Singer Island, a 34-year-old Lake Worth Beach man near the Boynton Inlet, a 55-year old man who was a guest at the Tideline Palm Beach Ocean Resort and a 50-year-old Canadian man off the coast of Ocean Ridge.
READ THE STORY HERE: Five November drowning deaths in Palm Beach County
The National Weather Service in Miami had issued warnings for a high risk of rip currents along Palm Beach County’s Atlantic coastline for much of that time period. A rip current is a powerful channel of fast-moving water that flows away from the shore.
Three PBSO deputies die in SUV crash on Southern Boulevard
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office marked the darkest day in its 115-year history on Nov. 21 when three road-patrol officers — Cpl. Luis Paez and Deputies Ralph “Butch” Waller and Ignacio “Dan” Diaz — were killed in a crash along Southern Boulevard west of Wellington.
An SUV trying to avoid hitting another vehicle overcorrected in traffic, driving onto the side of the road and hitting the officers as they stood waiting for help in restarting a PBSO motorcycle. Paez and Waller died that day at St. Mary’s Medical Center. Diaz died four days later.
‘They were lions’: Mourners honor three PBSO deputies killed in SUV crash near Wellington
COVERAGE: Trump, DeSantis lead list of dignitaries attending memorial for fallen PBSO deputies
COVERAGE: Memorial honoring PBSO deputies killed in crash west of Wellington
On Dec. 3, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw honored the men with a memorial at the South Florida Fairgrounds that drew thousands of people, including President-elect Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Palm Beach Post Staff Writers James Coleman, Tom Elia, Holly Baltz and Antonio Fins contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: What were the top 10 stories of 2024 in Palm Beach County?
