The peak storm tide in Charleston Harbor was 9.29 feet MLLW / ~3.5 feet MHHW at 0648 UTC (248 AM EDT), which is the third highest level on record to date. Preliminarily, the maximum storm tide (astronomical tide + storm surge) was 12.56 feet Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW) / ~5.1 feet Mean Higher High Water (MHHW) at 0742 UTC (342 AM EDT) on October 8 at Fort Pulaski, GA, which was the highest level recorded to date. Image courtesy of NOAA/NWS/WPC Storm Surge/Inundation Note: Several observations likely did not capture the strongest winds due to the loss of power in many areas For more details on impacts to the area check out our Post-Storm Report. The storm brought significant inundation from storm surge along and near the coast, rainfall-induced freshwater flooding, river flooding and hurricane-force wind gusts to portions of southeast GA and southeast SC. Click here for a surface weather map and here for a regional radar image at 1200 UTC (8 AM EDT) showing the storm near the SC coast. Hurricane Matthew moved north off the Florida east coast as a major hurricane before weakening to a Category 2 hurricane off the Georgia coast and then eventually making landfall around Cape Romain, South Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane during the late morning hours on October 8. “Fifty years from now, there’s going to be even more water from sea level rise,” Zachry said.GOES infrared satellite (left) and radar (right) imagery of Hurricane Matthew affecting the Southeast U.S. Whether that will be enough is far from clear. The city of Miami Beach is one of only a few places in the state taking concrete action to prepare, investing $400 million to raise streets and create a pumping system to protect against flooding. At the same time, the most dire predictions show sea levels rising as much as 6 feet by the end of the century if nothing is done to limit climate change.Īccording to Climate Central, about 5 million people in the United States live less than 4 feet above high tide. The current broad threat is very much in line with climate change projections for the future.Ī study last year by NOAA predicts that hurricanes and tropical storms will become more intense by the end of the century. “With Matthew paralleling the coastline, we’re having life-threatening storm surge all the way up to maybe even North Carolina,” Zachry said. Two states away in South Carolina, Charleston braced for a surge projected to be as high as 8 feet. Social media filled with video showing the ocean pushing through dunes, down streets and into buildings in places including Daytona Beach and the historic Florida city of St. Johns River, which meets the Atlantic Ocean near Jacksonville. On Friday, Matthew continued its march north after pounding Haiti this week with devastating rains and winds that left thousands homeless and hundreds dead. Matthew avoided a direct strike to the Florida coast, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration continued to predict storm surges as high as 6 to 9 feet in the area around Jacksonville in northern Florida.īy early afternoon Friday, with the eye of the storm still about 100 miles southeast of the city, NOAA said, water had risen more than 3 feet above normal tide levels in the St. It could make any new thing that’s there more vulnerable or even things that have been there a long time.” It could make a structure more vulnerable or a dune collapse. That means the place experiencing the surge is going to become more vulnerable. “There’s another half a foot of water that a storm can work with than it would have had 100 years ago. “Water going inland now has a higher base to work from,” said Brian Zachry, a storm surge specialist with the National Hurricane Center in Miami. But the combination of the relatively slow rise in sea level with the fierce slam of a storm can be devastating. A hurricane can do its damage in a matter of hours. The global sea level average has risen by about 6 inches over the last century.
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