ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — It’s that time of year for king tides, especially higher tides that could result in water flooding on low lying streets in cities such as St. Augustine.
King tides occur during certain full moons of the year, often in the autumn and winter.
However, over the years, with rising sea levels, king tides are making themselves more noticeable in cities.
"I think the thing that we are seeing is an increase of frequency maybe which streets are getting flooded or how many times per year. So we are seeing and uptick in that," Jessica Beach told First Coast News Wednesday. She is the City of St. Augustine’s chief resiliency officer.
With king tides, the rising water is "usually just in the streets, and (people) will see it coming up potentially through some storm drains or just in low points," Beach said.
When a king tide is compounded by heavy rain or strong winds, the water has flooded roads.
Because that’s happening more frequently, the City of St. Augustine has "completed a vulnerability assessment and adaptation plan."
The goal is to identify the city’s weak spots when it comes to flooding and then create solutions.
One solution, for example, are one way-valves on large outflow pipes. For more than five years, the city has installed these one-way valves or pipes underground. They let the flood waters flow out into the rivers, but not back in.
"So we have about 40 that we’ve retrofitted today, and it has helped reduce that nuisance flooding, but we have over 100 outfalls city-wide," Beach said.
St. Augustine is also taking notes from other coastal cities that are dealing with more noticeable king tides as well.
"So we’re sharing information, lessons learned," Beach said.