ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Starting Tuesday night, people living near the coast or a river basin can expect to see some flooding from the king tide.
King tides are the highest tides of the year. They typically happen during the fall when the moon is closest to Earth.
Our First Alert Meteorologists say people can expect to see more flooding and ponding during high tide this week along the coast, intracoastal, and river basins.
When Rick Best bought property half a mile from the bay in St. Augustine in 2023, he didn’t expect he’d have to deal with so much flooding. He told Action News Jax’s Madison Foglio about the first time he saw a King tide.
“The first time we saw it we were shocked. Absolute shock,” said Best. “We were petrified because it just kept rising and rising and rising.”
In St. Augustine, we drove through streets flooded with water.
St. Johns County said its beaches will open later in the day this week due to the king tide.
Over in Fernandina Beach, the city government posted pictures of heavy flooding in their roads as well, cautioning people against driving through standing water.
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As for Rick Best, he said the flooding from king tides is something he’ll always have his eye on.
“Anytime we get any kind of winds coming off of the ocean coming east with the high tide, then it fills up. In fact, this whole intersection will be underwater,” said Best.
Carl Liberatore is the Director of Production for St. Johns County Cultural Events. He told Action News Jax they were starting to build for the Sing Out Loud Festival Tuesday, but with the King Tide, they have to take some precautions.
“We just have to watch our heavy equipment, our golf carts, our ATVs because with the streets flooded and everything, anything low to the ground risks damage,” said Liberatore.
Liberatore notes that despite the tide, they got off to a good start on the build for the upcoming festival.
Our First Alert Meteorologists said we can plan for higher than normal tides again during the new moon in about two weeks.
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