Storm Surge/Tide — Coastal Wakulla, Florida

2023-08-30 · Coastal Wakulla, Florida

Event narrative

Water levels around the time of high tide resulted in minor to locally low end moderate flooding along coastal areas of Wakulla County, with numerous roads closed and water moving under elevated beachfront homes. This was the combination of an unusually high astronomical tide, or king tide, and the resultant remaining higher water levels in Apalachee Bay in the wake of Hurricane Idalia.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Idalia made landfall on the morning of August 30th along the coast of Taylor County Florida near Keaton Beach at approximately 745 am EDT. The hurricane made landfall with estimated sustained winds of 125 mph, making it a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, the first major hurricane on record to make landfall in this portion of Florida. Hurricane Idalia moved inland across the eastern Florida Big Bend and into South Central Georgia during the morning hours. Strong winds caused extensive damage to trees, buildings, and infrastructure along a broad swath stretching west to Tallahassee and east beyond the Suwannee River. Significant and devastating storm surge accompanied the hurricane into the Taylor and Dixie County coasts, where water levels rose considerably, inundating numerous structures along the coast and flooding residences and businesses many miles inland. Significant damage to property and infrastructure was associated with the storm surge that will take a considerable time to rebuild. The peak surge values observed were from Dekle Beach in Taylor County southeastward to Horseshoe Beach in Dixie County. Surge heights in this area along the immediate coast were within the range of 7 to 12 feet above normally dry ground. Lower values of up to 6 feet above normally dry ground were noted south of Horseshoe Beach near the community of Suwannee. It should also be noted the storm made landfall around the time of low tide. Had the storm made landfall 6 hours later, around the time of high tide, peak water level values could have been between 3-4 feet higher. In the process of the high water mark surveys, interviews were conducted with several residents that lived in the area during the Storm of the Century, a non-tropical system that affected this portion of the Florida coastline on March 13, 1993. All of these residents interviewed from Keaton Beach to Horseshoe Beach indicated water levels that rivaled or exceeded those experienced in the 1993 'Storm of the Century.' Moreover, Dixie County Emergency Management noted that the inland extent of the storm surge from Hurricane Idalia moved much further inland from Horseshoe Beach than observed in The Storm of the Century. One direct fatality occurred in south-central Georgia as a result of the storm.

Damage estimates from Florida include $216.1 million spread over 21,525 insurance claims as of late September. An additional $447.9 million in agricultural losses was estimated by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The following 16 counties in Florida were declared disasters by FEMA: Citrus, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Hernando, Jefferson, Lafayette, Levy, Madison, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Sarasota, Suwannee, and Taylor. The agricultural losses were divided in the following ways: $93.6 million for field crops, $2.6 million for Fruits (non-citrus) and tree nuts, $68.8 million for greenhouse/nurseries, $157.6 million for animals and animal products (includes cattle, poultry, aquaculture and dairy), $60.6 million for vegetables and melons, and $64.7 million for forestry.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1135670. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.