September 25, 2026
King tides flood downtown Jacksonville; NE Florida coastal flood risk continues through weekend
News4JAX reported street flooding at Forsyth and Lafayette in downtown Jacksonville Friday from king tides, while NWS Jacksonville expects minor Atlantic coastal and St. Johns River tidal flooding around high tide into the weekend.
Northeast Florida is seeing seasonal king-tide flooding while Atlantic named storms remain far offshore. News4JAX reported Friday morning that the intersection of Forsyth and Lafayette in downtown Jacksonville was flooded because of king tides — the extreme high tides that occur when the sun and moon’s gravitational forces align. City officials in St. Augustine separately warned that higher-than-normal tides could flood low-lying areas from Sunday through Tuesday and urged drivers to avoid roads covered by water.
National Weather Service Jacksonville’s Area Forecast Discussion issued at 7:50 a.m. EDT Friday highlighted minor tidal flooding today and Saturday along the Atlantic coast, elevated tides in the St. Johns River basin through the weekend, life-threatening rip currents, and a risk of minor beach erosion. Forecasters said breezy north-northeasterly onshore winds combined with rising astronomical tides ahead of Saturday’s full “Harvest” Moon to push water levels toward about 1.5 to 2 feet above Mean Higher High Water during high-tide cycles. A Coastal Flood Advisory covered parts of the Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia coast Friday morning, with additional river-basin advisory timing into Saturday, plus High Surf and Small Craft Advisories for adjacent waters.
The National Hurricane Center continues advisories on Tropical Storms Fay and Gonzalo in the far eastern and central Atlantic. Neither system threatens Florida or the U.S. East Coast, and NHC’s Friday morning Tropical Weather Outlook expects no new Atlantic tropical cyclone formation over the next seven days. These king-tide impacts are driven by astronomy and the lingering Mid-Atlantic coastal storm pattern, not by Fay or Gonzalo.
Coastal street flooding can still push water into ground-level entries and crawl spaces. If floodwater has entered a Central Florida home or business, prompt extraction and structural drying limit secondary damage. Florida Restoration Specialists serves Lakeland and Polk County water damage calls — water damage restoration and water extraction — or call (863) 588-6617.
Sources: NWS Jacksonville Area Forecast Discussion (7:50 a.m. EDT Sept. 25), News4JAX: downtown Jacksonville king-tide flooding, News4JAX: St. Augustine higher tides through Tuesday, NHC Atlantic Tropical Weather Outlook, NHC home.
