Tropical Storm — Coastal St. Johns, Florida

2022-11-09 to 2022-11-10 · Coastal St. Johns, Florida

Event narrative

Storm surge damage and tropical storm force winds impact the county. Estimated storm surge and wind damage loss was around $34.1 million dollars. An estimated 600,000 cubic yards of beach sand and approximately 400,000 cubic yards of dune sand were lost, from county maintained beaches.

Storm surge flooding impacted the Matanzas Inlet area. Davis Shores, Crescent Beach, Butler Beach, Anastasia Island, Vilano Beach, and portions of St. Augustine experienced storm surge inundation. Parts of A1A were undermined around Vilano Beach. Severe damage occurred to the beaches and other roads along the coast.

On Wednesday, November 9th at 2 am, the C-Man station at St. Augustine, SAUF1, measured sustained tropical storm force winds of 39 mph from the NNE. At 4:30 am, a mesonet station at Summerhouse measured a wind gust of 50 mph. At 7:55 am, the C-Man station SAUF1 measured a wind gust of 51 mph. At 9:10 am, the St. Johns County EMA reported storm surge flooding in the parking lot of Castillo de San Marcos in historic St. Augustine along the Matanzas River. At 9:11 am, the county EM reported storm surge flooding in the streets and around homes near Davis Shores on Anastasia Island. At 9:25 am, the county EM reported storm surge flood water across Surfside Avenue and that storm surge surrounded homes in Vilano Beach. At 9:30 am, business web cams in St. Augustine showed about 6 inches to one foot of storm surge flood water over Avenida Menendez Florida Highway A1A. At 10:30 am, the county EM reported State Road A1A was closed near Vilano Beach due to storm surge overwash. At 12:20 pm, the public reported that Pellicer Creek in Faver Dykes State Park was in moderate flood due to storm surge. At this time, the gauge was 2.22 ft MHHW. At 12:55 pm, a mesonet site at Summerhouse measured a wind gust of 52 mph. At 1 pm, the C-man station SAUF1 measured a wind gust of 52 mph. At 1:50 pm, the Department of Transportation reported significant undermining of a home along A1A near Vilano Beach due to storm surge. This undermining was worse than recent storms. At 1:50 pm, the DOT also reported an overwash of the dunes along A1A just north of Marineland. At 5:30 pm, DOT reported that A1A near old A1A north of Marineland was closed due to unsafe conditions including overwash on the roadway and the roadway under water. At 10:17 pm, the broadcast media reported that the Matanzas River storm surge flooded the streets near the sea wall in historic St. Augustine.

On Thursday, November 10th, at 5:20 am, a mesonet site in St. Augustine measured a wind gust of 51 mph. At 6:19 am, the C-man Station SAUF1 measured a wind gust of 67 mph. At 6:30 am, a mesonet site in St. Augustine measured a wind gust of 52 mph. At 6:40 am, the same mesonet site measured a wind gust of 59 mph. At 7 am, a mesonet site in St. Augustine Beach measured a wind gust of 55 mph. At 7:16 am, the AWOS at the St. Augustine Airport measured a wind gust of 61 mph. At 7:19 am, the same AWOS measured a wind gust of 55 mph. At 7:20 am, a mesonet station at the St. Johns County Fire Station in South Ponte Vedra Beach measured a wind gust of 64 mph. At 7:28 am, the broadcast media reported that A1A from St. Johns county into Flagler county was closed due to storm surge water flowing over the road. The historic Bridge of Lions was also closed in St. Augustine. At 8:20 am, the St. Johns County Fire Station in South Ponte Vedra Beach measured a wind gust of 67 mph. At 8:30 am, a mesonet station in St. Augustine measured a wind gust of 60 mph. At 8:40 am, the St. Johns County Fire Station in South Ponte Vedra Beach measured a wind gust of 71 mph. At 8:45 am, a business web cam in St. Augustine indicated about 2.5 ft of storm surge inundation along the Avenida Menendez A1A through historic St. Augustine. At 9:30 am, St. Johns EM reported a water rescue was ongoing along State Road A1A in South Ponte Vedra Beach to evacuate a resident that was stranded during storm surge flooding. At 9:30 am, St. Johns EMA reported that May Street was closed west of Usina Causeway due to storm surge flooding. At 11:41 am, broadcast media reported that A1A was undermined and partly collapsed in Vilano Beach in the north bound lane due to storm surge and erosion. At 11:50 am, broadcast media reported that State Road A1A was closed in Crescent Beach due to storm surge flooding over the road. At 12 pm, the USGS tide gauge on Pellicer Creek in Faver Dykes State Park recorded a peak storm surge inundation of 3.82 ft MHHW datum. Major flooding begins at 3.3 ft MHHW at this location. At 2 pm, St Johns EMA reported an approximate 4 mile stretch of State Road A1A was inaccessible from Guana River Road to Carcaba Road due to storm surge flooding. About 2,000 homes are located along this stretch of roadway that was cut-off due to storm surge.

About 2 to 4 inches of rainfall impacted the county from Nicole.

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 1058693. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.