The aftermath of Tropical Storm Nicole: 'It looks just as bad as Irma'

Sections of A1A are closed to traffic and have crumbled onto the beach; residents react to Tropical Storm Nicole.

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Johnny Lulgjuraj, owner of Oceanside Beach Bar and Grill, opened the restaurant like normal on Thursday, Nov. 10. The storm wasn't that bad in the morning, he said, and their regulars were already calling to ask if they were open. 

"Every hour just got worse and worse," Lulgjuraj said. "I've never really seen that before, to this magnitude."

By noon, he said, the restaurant had to close for safety. Waves were beating over A1A, covering the roadway, and high tide wasn't even there yet. He said things did not look too damaged, but the water levels were high.

"It looks just as bad as Irma," he said. "The water level is just as high, if not higher, than Irma."

The lack of dune protection caused obvious damage to the county's shoreline, with several sections of Highway A1A crumbling onto the beach.

The Flagler County Sheriff's Office shared photos off the road collapse on its social media pages just after 11:30 a.m. on Thursday. The pictures showed the road had collapsed into the ocean in one section. The waves and storm surge have eroded sand from underneath other sections of the road, according to other photos from FCSO social media.

While it is unclear where the pictured collapse happened, several sections of A1A are currently closed, according to the Flagler County government website: A1A at Flagler County/St John County Line; A1A at South 7th Street to South 16th Street; A1A at Highbridge to South Central Ave, by the Water Tower; road blocks are up on A1A in the area south of Washington Oaks State Park.

For Carla Cline, head of Flagler Beach All-Stars, the damage and water were unexpected.

“Take [Hurricanes] Matthew and Irma and put them together,” she said. "We definitely had a complete Hurricane Matthew and Irma experience."

Cline said road crews were already out by early Thursday afternoon shoring up the damage. But she said Flagler Avenue was flooded — "a small river" was flowing from in front of her house down Flagler Avenue, starting at 14th Street.

The evacuations were lifted from the barrier island today at noon, Nov. 10, and Flagler County officials announced that they were closing Rymfire Elementary as an evacuation shelter by the end of Thursday. But residents along the shoreline still have to contend with flood waters.

"It came on really fast; no one expected this," Cline said. 

The swales and ocean drains are all backed up from the rain and storm surge, she said, pushing water into the streets and into some peoples' houses. 

"There's nowhere for it to go," she said.

 

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