Kayaks in the streets: King tides, nor’easter hit St. Augustine hard, swamping streets

Parts of St. Augustine were underwater Monday morning as king tides, rain and wind combined to push water levels two feet above what was expected — swamping streets near Flagler College and City Hall.The flooding prompted city officials to delay their workday until at noon for staff at city hall. ‘Water is finding any weak point’Jessica Beach, Chief Resiliency Officer for the City of St. Augustine, was well at work throughout the day monitoring flooded roads around the city. She said the timing of a nor’easter made an already challenging season significantly worse.“We’re in the peak of our King Tide season, so we had a nor’easter pop up that coincided with King Tides,” Beach said. “There’s a lot of flood advisories that were issued by our emergency management system from St. Johns County.”Beach explained that much of the city’s storm drain system relies on gravity — and that works fine under normal conditions. But king tide season changes everything.“On a normal tide, it’s usually not