75 Continuous Days Of Flooding In Key Largo? 80 Days? Nobody Sure When The Tide Stopped Going Out

[hatrack]

An aerial view from a drone shows a car as it drives through a street flooded with ocean water on Oct. 22, 2019 in Key Largo, Fla.

On Key Largo, to walk to Paul Butler's house it's best to wear rubber boots. "Did you see the 'No Wake' sign?" he asks. The recently installed "No Wake" signs are for drivers, not boaters. There are several inches of water on his street and others in this low-lying neighborhood. Butler has lived here 25 years and seen this kind of flooding before.

"It used to happen once a year during king tide, but it would only last for like a week or ten days," he says. "This year, it's been going on for about 75 days I think." Other neighbors put it at 80 days and counting. The flooding here and elsewhere is happening during so-called "king tides." Those are times, mostly in the fall, when the moon's gravitational pull means tides are higher than usual.

On Key Largo the water doesn't drain, because there's nowhere for it to go. Brian Boylan says his flooded street is basically even with the bay, and during king tide the seawater overtops the canal in his backyard. "You can see it coming right out of the ground," he says. "Sometimes you can even see it bubbling."

Needless to say, Boylan and other neighbors aren't happy that they're now surrounded by water. The biggest problem? "Just driving through it," he says. "You're ruining your vehicles. My truck's all rusty underneath." Salt water is corrosive. He says, "We wash it off, but you can't get it. The brakes will probably go." Making things worse, the neighborhood was built on fill and residents can point to areas where the ground has settled. But another factor is the rising sea level. "Obviously ... it's gone up, because I can tell from my dock," says Boylan, who built his house and dock 40 years ago. He say the water at the dock now is six inches higher than it used to be.


Residents in Key Largo say their streets have been flooded more than two months from a series of king tides.

EDIT


Residents say the biggest problem is the corrosive effects of seawater on their vehicles as they're forced to drive through flooded streets.

EDIT

https://www.npr.org/2019/11/28/783349974/this-florida-keys-neighborhood-has-been-flooded-for-nearly-3-months

[keithbvadu2]

1. It's all part of Trump's Chinese hoax, dont'cha know?

It's all part of Trump's Chinese hoax, dont'cha know?