King tides inundate streets and flood homes and businesses along both US
coasts
[October 29, 2026]
By JOHN RABY and AMY TAXIN
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — King tides have inundated parts of both
U.S. coasts, flooding streets and sending seawater into homes and
businesses in beach communities in California, Florida and the
Carolinas.
The tides began with the full moon earlier this week and could cause
flooding in some areas into the weekend, forecasters said. King tides
are caused by the gravitational pull and alignments of the Earth, moon,
and sun. They can occur several times a year and last several days.
This week's king tides have been exacerbated by additional factors,
forecasters said Wednesday.
In Florida, strong high pressure to the north and low pressure over the
Caribbean were causing increased swells, Chris Fisher, a National
Weather Service meteorologist in Miami, said.
Along the California coast, the ongoing super El Niño has warmed the
ocean, leading to an increased volume of seawater. Another factor was
the occurrence of Kelvin waves, a series of pulses of warm water that
lift the sea level, said Roger Gass, a meteorologist with the weather
service's Bay Area forecast office in Monterey.
This week's king tides, like their name, have definitely been
noticeable. Residents didn't need a beach to see the ocean. The ocean
came to them.
In Southern California, Stacey Frederick snapped photos and videos of
people walking in knee-deep water and paddleboarding on the Pacific
Coast Highway outside a coffee shop where she works as rising tides
pushed water ashore. Officials shut down traffic on a flooded portion of
the four-lane highway, which winds from Orange County up through
California.
King tides aren’t new, yet this was unusual, Frederick said.
“It floods a little bit, but never to this point,” said Frederick, 38,
who has lived in Huntington Beach for five years.
Record high tides were set this week in Santa Barbara, San Pedro, San
Diego and nearby La Jolla, according to the weather service.
In Sunset Beach, the water washed over the three layers of sandbags that
Lorraine Friedman, 75, had stacked inside her garage and on the small
patio outside her studio apartment. She has lived in the seaside
community for nearly three decades and her apartment has flooded only
once before, some 20 years ago.
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A man surfs through floodwaters in Huntington Beach, Calif.,
Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
“This is the second day I’ve been flooded — two days — and tomorrow
I’ll get flooded again,” she said Wednesday.
In the northern part of the state, minor flooding was expected
through Saturday in low-lying areas along shorelines and tidal
waterways during peak high tides, the weather service said.
Gass said the coastal flooding generally occurred within 1 1/2 hours
before and after high tides, which are peaking 1.9 feet (about a
half-meter) above normal in Northern California.
Most of Florida’s Atlantic coast was under flood warnings through
early Friday. Street flooding also was reported in South Carolina
coastal cities, including Charleston and Myrtle Beach, and rip
currents were possible as far north as North Carolina's Outer Banks.
“It’s been a rough beach week,” Fisher said. “We’ve had a high risk
of rip currents and some high surf out there. The beach conditions
are going to continue to be rough through the weekend. It’s been a
good week to stay out of the water and stay away from the beaches.”
In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, getting to the multiple waterfront
venues at what’s billed as the world’s largest-in-water boat show
was tricky, requiring driving through flooded streets next to
marinas, hotels and convention centers.
Virginia Key, a barrier island in Miami, saw its highest king tide
and the third-highest water level since records were first kept
going back three decades, Fisher said.
“The only times we've seen higher was during hurricanes,” Fisher
said. “It's historical from a king tide perspective.”
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Raby reported from Charleston, West Virginia.
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