St. Augustine residents weigh in on new 'No Wake' law during tidal flooding
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Cordova Street has been inundated with flooding with high tides pushing several inches of water into the street.

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Parts of St. Augustine have been taking on water for days, leaving neighbors with flooded streets from the high tides.

The general sentiment among neighbors who talked with a First Coast News crew is that it really wouldn’t be so bad if drivers didn’t insist on plowing through it and pumping wakes up on their properties.

Florida lawmakers passed a “No Wake” law this year designed to give them a little help.

“Beautiful,” said Susan Meyerson, who lives on Cordova Street near downtown St. Augustine. “I love St. Augustine.”

Meyerson landed her little slice of paradise last year when she retired to her dream spot in St. Augustine.

However, the price of paradise on Cordova Street is flooding at some high tides.

“I knew this street flooded during hurricanes, but I did not realize it did during king tides,” Meyerson said. “I didn’t know what a king tide was until December.”

Meyerson says the flooding often goes down almost as fast as it comes in, so she’s gotten used to hunkering down and watching the madness as cars try to ford through it.

“Cars are driving down the street and causing rooster tails of water if they drive too fast,” Meyerson said.

Florida lawmakers passed a new “No Wake” law, which took effect in July and allows law enforcement to ticket drivers who create an excessive wake on a flooded street.

“That water is pushing into people’s yards and up close to their homes,” said Nancy Guarnieri, who also lives on Cordova Street.

The new law doesn’t specify an amount for a citation, but classifies it as a moving violation, which Florida statutes set the default at $60.

“It’s fantastic, but I don’t know how you enforce that,” Meyerson said. “If I were a police officer, I would not want to be standing on this corner when it’s flooding.”

Meyerson says she’s yet to get water in her home from the wakes, but says it’s come pretty close.

That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have an impact.

“The landscaping stones here, when the tide comes up, it pushes all the stones up to the house,” said Mitch Keady, who says he has to rake the stones every time it floods. “They form piles.”

Meyerson will keep trying to wave at cars to turn around when they hit Cordova during the flooded, trying to save one vacation at a time from being ruined by a stalled car.

“I mean, they’re tourists, they don’t know these roads are flooded,” Meyerson said. “This has been a nightmare.”

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