ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – The city of St. Augustine is building a berm in the South Davis Shores community to make the neighborhood more flood resilient.
The city is preparing for potential high tides this weekend.
Residents told News4Jax the neighborhood flooded during a nor’easter and king tide event in September.
“During the king tide, my house had water on all four sides. Nothing came up in the house, thank goodness,” explained Tim Miscovich. “Some of the neighbors a few houses down had 6 to 8 inches in their homes. A lot of people’s garages flooded.”
The berm is one of several efforts the city is making to improve flooding in the area.
Earlier this year, it developed Coquina Park. The land was elevated and is designed to protect against floods.
“The park was actually one of the lowest points where floodwaters used to overtop and that would be the first point, so we fixed that with elevations for the park," said Jessica Beach, the city’s stormwater engineer. “But what we realized with that storm event and high tides at the end of September is that it’s finding the next low point.”
The city is planning to do a resiliency study to look at other flood mitigation options for the neighborhood. It also meeting with property owners to discuss flood mitigation options, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency Mitigation Assistance Program.