WES PALM BEACH, Fla. — For 20 years Sumndr and Mai Kaye have endured the wrath of king tides in their home off of Flagler Drive.
"It's terrible, it's traumatic, because when the king tide comes, the water comes rushing over the Intracoastal and it floods right into our house," Sumndr Kaye said. "Floods into our neighbor's house, floods all our houses on Flagler this side, and all the houses on the water. We all just get flooded."
King tides is what First Alert Meteorologist Steve Villanueva calls a natural occurring phenomena.
"The moon has an effect on the planet and the oceans expand and contract and you get the tide cycles. But the king tides here in South Florida, typically in the fall, don't happen the entire time during every high tide cycles., they'll happen over several high tide cycles," he said. "So, you can have a king tide cycle happening in October and again in November and late September and what happens is that the tide cycle runs higher than average. It could be a sunny day and you're like why is it flooding, and the reason is, because the tide cycle is running above average."
Knowing what's coming, Palm Beach County is suggesting property owners who are vulnerable to king tides to have a plan in place to move vehicles, keep sandbags on hand, making a flood safety plan to purchasing or reviewing your flood insurance.
Sumndr Kaye said he's got flood insurance, but that situation hasn't worked out for them over the years.
"So, if we get a check for $11,000, we have to pay $7,000 for the deductible and we end up with four grand, that's the way the insurance works," he said. "So, every time we pay seven say over 20 years that could be 30, 40 grand. That's a lot of dough for us anyway."
Sumndr Kaye said it's one of the reasons he and his wife have decided to sell their home. He said sometimes you've got to roll with the tide.
The highest tides of 2023 in Palm Beach County will occur on Sept. 29 through Oct. 2, Oct. 27 through Oct. 31 and Nov. 26.