Downtown Charleston Under Water: Irma Flash Flood Emergency Declared

While Hurricane Irma, which was reclassified as a tropical storm early Monday, spared Miami from a "worst case" scenario, the former hurricane saved some of its worst storm surge impacts for northeast Florida, coastal Georgia, and South Carolina.

A record water surge flooded downtown Jacksonville, leading the National Weather Service to issue a flash flood emergency as the water level rose sharply. Hours of strong winds blowing the ocean inland, and preventing water from the St. Johns River from escaping back into the ocean worsened the flood situation. The flooding, while predicted, is reportedly some of the worst the city has seen. Despite being weaker than Hurricane Matthew was when it passed by the city in 2016, Tropical Storm Irma helped push a greater amount of water onshore, and it struck right at the time of high tide. This caused the city to see its highest storm surge flooding on record.

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