ST. AUGUSTINE BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) — Hurricane Dorian’s outer bands lashed out with winds and rain to Florida’s east coast, causing some beach erosion on St. Augustine Beach, but the Category 3 storm remained offshore as it crawled north toward the Carolinas.
Dorian’s eye was located about 115 miles to the east of St. Augustine Beach on Wednesday afternoon.
After coming to a complete standstill over the Bahamas earlier this week, the system is moving north-northwest at 9 mph as of 4 p.m.
7News cameras captured some flooding along low-lying streets. The water was three feet deep in some sections of a residential road, but authorities said the water hasn’t seeped into any homes.
Down the shoreline, resident Tony Niosi anxiously waited for the high tide to subside. The waves crashed up and onto the beach access road, but storm surge has not pushed water into his beachfront apartments.
Niosi said the wait for Dorian has been worse than the actual storm.
“It’s been about a week, ’cause, ‘Oh, it’s gonna happen tomorrow.’ ‘It’s gonna happen the next day,'” he said. “‘Do I drive south?” ‘Do I drive north?’ ‘Do I drive west?'”
The wind gusts are actually helping out St. Augustine residents. As the high tide comes in, the winds blow westward, so they’re actually pushing the water back out to the ocean.
Area residents said they’re grateful the hurricane caused far less water damage than past hurricanes.
“Everybody needs to stay safe, and it’s very windy, but we’ve been through Matthew and Irma. This is OK. I can handle this,” said St. Augustine Beach resident Sarah Stecker.
But Dorian has done damage in other ways. Most businesses were boarded up in historic downtown St. Augustine, Wednesday afternoon.
Because the Matanzas River is prone to bursting its banks, residents remained vigilant.
“I’m plastic-taped, sandbagged, sealed up, provisioned. I’m ready,” said resident Bob Haley.
Wednesday afternoon, police lifted the beach curfew. Strong surf sent waves crashing into the shore, but cameras captured several local homeowners going for walks on the beach, suggesting things appeared to return to normal for this section of Northeastern Florida.
“Florida kind of dodged a bullet,” said Haley.
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