Key Largo residents remain hostage to high tides

The end of another hurricane season without the Keys feeling a punch is approaching, but some Key Largo residents find themselves living in conditions that resemble a major storm's aftermath.

A combination of the offshore passing of Hurricane Joaquin and several low pressure systems off the Carolinas made tides particularly high in Key Largo for almost three weeks. The tides, which have flooded neighborhoods like Stillwright Point and Lake Drive, left many families unable to drive because they fear wading their vehicles through the damaging saltwater.

"For two weeks it's been like this," said Florentine Velasquez of Shaw Drive. He said the conditions have presented particular difficulties for the elderly.

"That lady over there," Velasquez said pointing to a house, "She hasn't left her house in weeks."

Fara Cummings, who lives on Sexton Way in Stillwright Point, said the water has kept her and her baby son P.J. homebound for days.

"There are times I want to take him to the park, but I can't," said Cummings.

The high water has also delayed garbage pickup and has turned some streets into breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

Luckily for Stillwright Point residents, they live right behind the Winn Dixie supermarket at mile marker 105, so they can walk to get groceries.

"Other than that, I've been basically homebound because I refuse to take the cars out," said Emilie Stewart, who lives on Blackwater Lane.

Areas in northern Key Largo are susceptible to tidal flooding this time of year, but Stewart, who has lived in Stillwright Point for 20 years, hasn't seen the water remain this high for so long.

"This is the longest, not the highest though," Stewart said. "The highest was after Hurricane Wilma in 2005."

Stewart said Hurricane Sandy, which stayed far offshore from the Keys, produced similar tidal flooding in Key Largo, but it didn't last long.

"Sandy had the same effect, but that lasted four or five days, that was it," she said.

Forecasters expected the tides to recede once Joaquin went up the East Coast earlier this month. But they didn't, and that was because the hurricane and low pressure systems that preceded it blocked the Gulf Stream and backed water up into the Florida Bay.

National Weather Service Senior Meteorologist Bill South said what exacerbated the conditions was that South Florida went an unusually long time without any significant northeast winds to push the water away from shore.

"Once the water is trapped in the Florida Bay, you need strong northeast or eastern winds to push it out," South said. "We've had really low winds for a long period of time now."

The good news is the water has been gradually coming down this week, and should be gone in the next few days because of a "very expansive high-pressure system" that is expected to bring with it in a windy weekend throughout South Florida.

"By next week, I would say this will be a thing of the past," South said.

This story was originally published October 16, 2015 at 12:02 PM with the headline "Key Largo residents remain hostage to high tides."