thumbnail

Monitoring Storm Tide From Hurricane Michael Along the Northwest Coast of Florida, October 2018

Open-File Report 2019-1059
Prepared in cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Florida Division of Emergency Management
By:
https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20191059

Links

Abstract

Hurricane Michael made landfall near Mexico Beach and Tyndall Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle, with maximum sustained winds over 160 miles per hour, on October 10, 2018. The maximum recorded storm tide was 15.55 feet above the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88). The elevation of the maximum high-water mark, found in Port St. Joe, Florida, exceeded 20 feet above NAVD 88. The storm tide and winds destroyed much of the tourist town of Mexico Beach and caused extensive damage to the surrounding communities, including Tyndall Air Force Base, Panama City Beach, Port St. Joe, and Cape San Blas, Fla.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with Federal Emergency Management Agency and Florida Division of Emergency Management, deployed a temporary monitoring network of water-level and barometric pressure sensors at 34 sites along the northwest coast of Florida to record the timing, areal extent, and magnitude of hurricane storm tide generated by Hurricane Michael. A total of 522 high-water marks were recovered and surveyed from 331 sites from Seaside, Fla. to Cedar Key, Fla. The USGS, in cooperation with Federal Emergency Management Agency and Florida Division of Emergency Management, displays real-time water-level data from long-term USGS streamflow stations, rapid deployment gages and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tide-gage stations, updated hourly (or, in some cases, more frequently), through satellite telemetry, on the USGS Flood Event Viewer (https://stn.wim.usgs.gov/FEV/#Michael2018).

Suggested Citation

Byrne, M.J., Sr., 2019, Monitoring storm tide from Hurricane Michael along the northwest coast of Florida, October 2018: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2019–1059, 10 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20191059.

ISSN: 2331-1258 (online)

ISSN: 0196-1497 (print)

Study Area

Table of Contents

  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Hurricane Michael Storm-Tide Monitoring
  • Conclusion
  • References Cited
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Monitoring storm tide from Hurricane Michael along the northwest coast of Florida, October 2018
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 2019-1059
DOI 10.3133/ofr20191059
Year Published 2019
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Caribbean-Florida Water Science Center
Description vi, 10 p.
Country United States
State Florida
Online Only (Y/N) N
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details