Coastal Flood — Coastal Flagler, Florida

2021-11-05 to 2021-11-07 · Coastal Flagler, Florida

Event narrative

On Friday 11/5 at around 10 AM during high tide, severe beach erosion was reported at Jungle Hut Road Park by the Flagler County emergency management. The dunes became impassable due to overwash which also damaged the dune walkover steps to the beach. At 12:50 PM, a spotter reported that the water level had reached the top of the sea wall along the intracoastal waterway (icww) off of Christopher Court in Palm Coast. At 10:27 PM, a post on social media showed street flooding reaching into the homeowners driveway near the intersection of south flagler ave and south 23rd street in flagler beach.

On Saturday 11/6 at 2:27 AM, moderate tidal flooding was first observed along S 23rd and Flagler Ave. in Flagler Beach. The last time moderate tidal flooding occurred in Flagler County's intracoastal was during the September Nor'easter of 2020. Around noon, water overtopped the sea wall near N 10th street in Flagler Beach and water overtopped the sea wall along the canal connected to the intracoastal waterway near Christopher Court in Palm Coast. At one point, the water was 3 inches above the bulkhead roughly 2.87 ft above sea level along the canals northeast of Palm coast and west of A1A. Water levels were still rising. At 1 PM, severe beach erosion was reported along various locations along Flagler Beach with the most severe near S 23rd St. High surf of 7 to 12 ft was also reported along Flagler Beach with waves reaching the deck of Flagler Beach Pier as reported by a NWS employee. In Flagler Beach at 1:39 PM, a trained spotter reported water was over yards and up to houses near 16th St S and S Flagler Ave. At 2:55 PM, the emergency management reported tidal flooding from Matanzas river had flooded Intracoastal Dr in Flagler Beach. Water was unknown depth and was not going into homes. At 3 PM, severe beach erosion was reported by the emergency management at various locations north of Jungle Hut Road Park damaging more dune walkover steps. At 3:30 PM, canals and docks were overtopped near the Palm Coast Marina. At 4 PM, the emergency management reported the highest observed flooding of the event with moderate tidal flooding causing street flooding along S flagler Ave. between S 23rd St and S 25th St due to high tides moving onshore from the intracoastal waterway. Water overtopped canal walls at numerous locations in Flagler Beach but water did not reach homes. Water also overtopped canal walls in Palm Coast with one point at 9 inches above the top of the seawall and 40 inches above mean sea level which was measured by a spotter on Cheyenne Ct at 12:40 PM. Beach erosion occurred all day along the Flagler county coast.

On Sunday 11/7, minor tidal flooding continued along S Flagler Ave through the high tide cycles according to the emergency management.

Wider weather episode

An area of low pressure developed across the southern Gulf of Mexico on Friday Nov. 5th and tracked eastward across north-central Florida Friday night, deepening offshore of the local NE FL Atlantic coast on Saturday Nov. 6th as strong surface high pressure wedged southward north of the region. This created a rare, true Nor'Easter event for the local area which including coastal and tidal flooding with inundation of 2-3 ft at high tides and damaging wind gusts, A High Wind Warning and Storm Warning for coastal and marine areas was issued. Localized heavy rainfall occurred for portions of coastal NE Florida. Moderate to major coastal erosion occurred. Coastal wind gusts of 40-50 mph started Friday morning then increased to 45-55 mph into Friday evening. The strongest winds of the event occurred for coastal NE FL Saturday morning, Nov. 6th, with sustained speeds 45-55 mph and gusts 60-70 mph. A peak wind gust of 68 mph was measured at the St. Augustine C-MAN station Saturday morning 11/6 around 06:30 am (peak sustained wind was 55 mph from the north) with a gust of 70 mph at 5:37 am at the Huguenot Park mesonet site. Moderate tidal flooding occurred along the local Atlantic coast with inundation of 2-3 feet.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 991669. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.