Tropical Storm — Coastal Camden, Georgia

2022-11-10 · Coastal Camden, Georgia

Event narrative

Damage assessments are ongoing in Camden County. Most impacts were near areas immediately adjacent to coastal waterways. The most significant impacts occurred around high tide Thursday morning, November 11th where most storm surge inundation damage occurred in downtown St. Mary's area and Cujo Point, a small subdivision in the Dover Bluff area in Northeast Camden County.

Around 9:30 am on 11/10, significant beach erosion, surge flooding, and flood water entered the dune system on Cumberland Island. At 9:55 am, Cumberland Island National Seashore employees reported water topped the seawall and minor street flooding was occurring in St. Mary's on St. Mary's Street.

The U.S. Geological Survey Tide Station on Cumberland Island at the Sea Camp Dock recorded a peak water level of 3.47 ft above MHHW datum on November 11th at 11 AM. Major Flooding Begins At 3.7 Feet Above MHHW. This was the highest tide recorded at this gauge since Hurricane Matthew in October 2016, when the peak water level was 3.48 ft above MHHW.

On 11/10 around 2:20 pm, significant storm surge flooding occurred in downtown St. Marys near the waterfront at St. Marys Howard Gilman Memorial Waterfront Park, Boat Ramp, and on Residential Roads Near St Marys Street W and St Marys Street E. Two bridges were closed in St. Marys. Peak wind gusts of 39 mph were observed at the Stafford gauge and along I-95.

In St. Mary's, two houses were damaged from falling trees, both away from the water, and several homes and businesses near the St. Mary's River that had water intrusion inside the structures. One St. Mary's resident two blocks North of the waterfront reported 7' of water in one of their buildings.

At Cujo Point, residents had as much as 15 inches of water in their yards. There was one residence with approximately 10' of water in their living quarters. The neighborhood has a large volume of marsh grass to clean up from yards and the roadway.

There were 5 bridges impacted by storm surge and tidal flooding, and all were cleared by GDOT as having no damage. The four St. Mary's bridges impacted were Highway 40 at Dark Entry Creek, Borrell Blvd, Sugarmill Blvd (South ' Dark Entry Ck), and the North River Causeway. At its highest point, water was on the travel portion of the causeway. In unincorporated areas, the bridge on Harrietts Bluff Road just West of Sheffield Island Rd. was impacted but not damaged. Sheffield Island Rd was briefly under water, and a one mile stretch of dirt road in the Dover Bluff area, near Cujo Point, was flooded then washed away.

Three tornado warnings were issued during the event with no indications of tornado damage. Rain bands created brief periods of torrential rainfall and gusty winds. A tree down/power outage incident Northwest of Woodbine was determined to be from the wind gusts and not a tornado.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Nicole approached the SE FL Atlantic Coast and made landfall as a Category 1 near Vero Beach during the pre-dawn hours of Thursday, November 10th. Strong high pressure dominated NNE of the region ahead of Nicole on Wednesday, November 9th, which created strong onshore flow and gusty winds of 35-50 mph in a local 'nor'easter' type of event. This strong onshore flow combined with high astronomical tides 'charged' inland estuaries including the St. Johns River basin ahead of storm surge from Hurricane Nicole. Winds and ocean surge increased through Wednesday night with the peak of the storm surge along the local Atlantic Coast Thursday morning around high tide, then the surge peak down the St. Johns River through high tide Thursday afternoon. After landfall, Nicole weakened to a tropical storm as the center track WNW across central FL through the day Thursday then began a more northward turn across the central FL panhandle into Thursday night. The main local impacts from Nicole were storm surge inundation as well as tropical storm force wind damage.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1057130. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.