Storm Surge/Tide — Coastal Palm Beach County, Florida

2007-11-01 to 2007-11-04 · Coastal Palm Beach County, Florida

Event narrative

High surf associated with Tropical Storm Noel continued to batter the Palm Beach County coast. Hardest hit spots were beaches in Jupiter, Singer Island and South Palm Beach/Lantana, where severe to locally extreme beach erosion occurred. A steel sea wall protecting the Condado condominium complex in Singer Island collapsed, causing cracks to form in the outer walls of the building. In some areas, the dune line was completely eroded, with oceanfront buildings sitting on top of 15 foot cliffs straight down to the water. A sea wall at the Imperial House condominiums in South Palm Beach collapsed from the pounding surf, and the east portion of the building was evacuated. South of Lantana to Boca Raton, erosion was reported as moderate to severe.

Total damage is estimated at $4 million.

On November 3, a dive boat capsized in the choppy surf at Boynton Beach Inlet near Manalapan, tossing all 5 occupants into the water. All five people were taken to the hospital but their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

Maximum storm tide occurred just before midnight on November 1st, with the Virginia Key NOS tide gauge reading 3.5 feet, and a maximum surge height of 1.08 feet. No tide measurements are available from Palm Beach County, but storm tide is estimated to have been as high as 2-3 feet over northern Palm Beach County.

Wider weather episode

A strong pressure gradient between high pressure over the Mid-Atlantic states and Tropical Storm Noel over Hispaniola and eastern Cuba caused a prolonged period of strong east winds over Southeast Florida and the adjacent waters. As Noel moved north across the western Bahamas, the strong winds continued across southeast Florida. The event caused severe beach erosion, coastal flooding, and minor wind damage. The event began in the last week of October.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 66132. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.