High tides cause coastal flooding in California, Florida and Carolina

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — King tides have inundated parts of both U.S. coasts, flooding streets and sending seawater into homes and businesses in beach communities in California, Florida and the Carolinas.

The tides began with the full moon earlier this week and could cause flooding in some areas through the weekend, forecasters said. King tides are caused by the gravitational pull and alignments of the Earth, Moon and Sun. They can occur several times a year and last several days.

This week’s king tides were exacerbated by other factors, forecasters said Wednesday.

In Florida, strong anticyclonic pressure to the north and a low pressure system over the Caribbean caused swells to increase, said Chris Fisher, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami.

Along the California coast, the Super El Niño in progress warmed the ocean, leading to an increase in the volume of sea water. Another factor was the occurrence of Kelvin wavesa series of pulses of warm water that raise sea levels, said Roger Gass, a meteorologist at the Bay Area Weather Service forecast office in Monterey.

This week’s spring tides, like their name, were definitely noticeable. People didn’t need a beach to see the ocean. The ocean came to them.

In Southern California, Stacey Frederick took photos and videos of people walking through knee-deep water and paddleboarding on the Pacific Coast Highway, outside a cafe where she works as rising tides pushed the water toward shore. Authorities stopped traffic on a flooded portion of the four-lane highway, which winds from Orange County to California.

King tides are not new, but they were unusual, Frederick said.

“There is a little bit of flooding, but never to this extent,” said Frederick, 38, who has lived in Huntington Beach for five years.

Record high tides were recorded this week in Santa Barbara, San Pedro, San Diego and nearby La Jolla, according to the weather service.

At Sunset Beach, water covered the three layers of sandbags that Lorraine Friedman, 75, had stacked in her garage and on the small deck outside her studio. She has lived in a beach community for nearly three decades, and her apartment has only flooded once before, about 20 years ago.

“This is the second day I’ve been flooded – two days – and tomorrow I’ll be flooded again,” she said Wednesday.

In the northern part of the state, minor flooding was expected through Saturday in low-lying areas along shorelines and tidal waterways during high tides, the weather service said.

Gass said coastal flooding typically occurs an hour and a half before and after high tides, which peak at 1.9 feet (about half a meter) above normal in Northern California.

Most of Florida’s Atlantic coast was under flood warnings until Friday morning. Street flooding was also reported in coastal South Carolina cities, including Charleston and Myrtle Beach, and rip currents were possible as far north as North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

“The week at the beach was tough,” Fisher said. “We’ve had a high risk of rip currents and high surf. Beach conditions are going to continue to be challenging through the weekend. It’s been a good week to stay out of the water and off the beaches.”

In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, it was difficult to get to the multiple waterfront locations of what is billed as the world’s largest on-water boat show, requiring crossing flooded streets next to marinas, hotels and convention centers.

Virginia Key, a barrier island in Miami, experienced its highest king tide and third highest water level since records were first kept three decades ago, Fisher said.

“The only times we saw higher levels was during hurricanes,” Fisher said. “It’s historic from a king tide perspective.”

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Raby was reported in Charleston, West Virginia.