ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Downtown St. Augustine is bracing for Saturday morning’s high tide, expected to peak around 10 a.m.
High tide occurred about 9:40 p.m. Friday. But this is what’s called a king tide, which comes in pairs — a minor and a major high tide. Friday night’s was the minor. The major king tide, which will occur about 12 hours later, is expected to be a foot or more higher.
A nor’easter dumped rain across the area most of Friday. News4Jax has seen crews trimming back some of the trees and clearing debris. Some business owners in the area told News4Jax that they’re not expecting the floods to last too long and aren’t anticipating any closures.
The harsh weather still didn’t keep some people from enjoying their Friday night out.
“We thought it’d be a quiet night down here and it’d fun to watch the weather and, you know, it hasn’t disappointed,” said Ponte Vedra Beach resident Brian Carmelengo.
St. Augustine visitor James Dolan said: “We felt sorry for the people that have to deal with extreme high tides and erosion, and I mean tomorrow’s going to be a crazy day for a lot of people.”
We also spotted vessels out on the water, weathering the strong winds. One boat was pinned up against the retaining wall, Those winds have caused some isolated damage.
On Florida Avenue in St. Augustine, a massive section of a tree collapsed onto two homes, one of which appeared to have taken the brunt of the impact. According to first responders, no one was home at the time and there were no injuries.
The St. Augustine fire chief told us earlier in the day that they’ve been called to help five boats since Thursday. No injuries were reported. Also earlier Friday, there was some flooding near the Castillo de San Marcos, as well as Lake Maria Sanchez, just south of downtown.
If you live or have any vehicles or property along the coastal areas of Vilano Beach and up and down St. Augustine, plan for significant flooding on Saturday.
This marks the third time in the last six years that we’re likely to see water levels like this. The first two were during hurricanes Matthew and Irma.