Surge from Tropical Storm Noel dumps sand, water onto A1A in Fort Lauderdale
Stretch of road in Lauderdale closed after storm surge.
FloodedThe view looking south toward Sunrise Blvd., as surge caused the ocean to get past the seawall , flooding the northbound lanes on AIA, just north of Sunrise Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale. (Sun-Sentinel/Andrew Innerarity / November 3, 2007) South Florida Sun-Sentinel November 4, 2007 FORT LAUDERDALE - Call it a parting gift from what was once Hurricane Noel.
Weather experts said ocean swells whipped up by the departing tropical storm are what turned parts of State Road A1A into an extension of Fort Lauderdale beach Saturday as high tides swept up and dumped sand and water onto the roadway.
Police had to close the north-south oceanfront road from Sunrise Boulevard north to Northeast 21st Street as knee-high salt water ebbed and flowed over sections of the pavement around 5 p.m.
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"This is definitely awesome," said Chuck Holloway, 35, who was vacationing from Mansfield, Ohio. "I've never seen anything like this."
Holloway and John Pruitt, 35, also from Mansfield, stared in awe at the sight of the washed-out road. A beach garbage can that had floated out of its holder sat in the middle of A1A near the traffic light at Northeast 14th Court. The sidewalk in the area had disappeared under sand and ocean water. A flooded-out Jeep sat idle with water up to its doors as two people tried to restart it.
"It's sort of beautiful in its own way," said Pruitt. "Even if it is a disaster."
Disaster might be the word used by those tracking the extensive beach erosion that many South Florida beaches have experienced in the past few weeks, including from Noel, which scraped away huge amounts of sand, especially in Palm Beach County. High winds have generated battering waves that have gobbled away shoreline, shrinking beaches like the one Ed Moles lives on.
Moles, a resident of Pompano Beach Club in Pompano Beach, said in the six years he's lived there, he's never seen the beaches in such poor shape and waves so close to his building.
Moles said that beach conditions over the past week or so have made him re-think how devastating the storm surge could be if the area is hit head-on by a hurricane.
"It's looking like if we get another storm, there's not going to be any beach left," he said.
Fortunately, the worst should be over, at least in the near term.
Dan Dixon, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami, said Noel sent a swell of high winds and water straight at South Florida as it passed to the northeast. The storm's center Saturday night was in the open Atlantic and far from land, though it might spawn high rains and showers that will reach New England. As it continues to move away from South Florida, Dixon said, conditions here should improve.
In addition, a series of cool fronts over the next few days should make things drier and more comfortable in South Florida he said.
"It is going to be getting better," Dixon said.
Brian Haas can be reached at bhaas@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4597.
posted by LadyIrene @ 11/04/2007 07:09:00 AM
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