Coastal Flood — Indian River, Florida

2020-09-21 to 2020-09-23 · Indian River, Florida

Event narrative

Minor to locally moderate beach erosion impacted the Indian River County beaches. The most significant erosion occurred at Jaycee/Conn Beach near Vero Beach, where several feet of berm lowering was observed, with one foot of dune retreat. Moderate erosion was also observed at Wabasso Beach and Tracking Station Beach.

Wider weather episode

A strong pressure gradient between high pressure well to the north and hurricanes well east and well west of Florida resulted in several days of strong and gusty onshore flow. The long fetch of onshore winds also directed large northeast swells to the east-central Florida coast. In addition, large easterly swells associated with major Hurricane Teddy located near Bermuda propagated to the coast. These conditions combined to produce water levels 1.5 to 2.0 feet above predicted astonomical tides during 5-6 high tide cycles. Water levels measured at the Trident Pier CMAN at Port Canaveral peaked at 6.6 feet MLLW around 1000LST on September 20 and again around 1030LST on September 21. Minor to locally moderate coastal flooding occurred along several beachfront locations, mainly near high tide. Minor to moderate beach erosion was common along much of the coastline, with some areas of major erosion.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 915462. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.