Worst of King Tide flooding may not be over yet, Fort Lauderdale official says

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The peak of King Tides left several parts of South Florida water, especially Fort Lauderdale. The city could see the worse flooding Wednesday as another cycle makes way.

Fort Lauderdale’s chief resilience officer Dr. Nancy Gassman said Wednesday’s flooding will be worse than Tuesday’s high tides, which were said to be the worst flooding ever. The city said water has been flowing over some docks, and tides make it difficult to get around the barrier island.

“We were expecting today to be similar to yesterday, but based on the way the tide’s coming in, it looks like it’s going to commence slightly higher,” said Dr. Gassman.

She shared a warning about the impact of king tides.

“At some point permanent sea level rise is going to be at this level, and so we need to continue to plan for a rising sea,” Dr. Gassman said.

She explained that the permanent sea level rise could be as soon as 2040. She added that city leaders should take note.

“We have more planning to do to protect our community and we need to look at additional options for how to manage these transient events,” Dr. Gassman explained. “We need to continue to plan for a rising sea so that we can understand how we’re going to manage future infrastructure, future roadways, future buildings.”

She noted that crews are unable to simply pump ocean water out.

The next round of high tides in Fort Lauderdale is expected at the following times:

Wednesday at 10:30p.m.

Thursday 11:15 a.m. and 11:30 p.m.