Surfside Anticipates High Tides, Storm

Surfside’s makeshift beach barrier held through another 7-foot high tide Friday, but the oceanfront community faces another test this weekend, when more big tides and a storm are expected.

At Friday morning’s high tide, the gentle surf took the kick out of waves, which failed to hit the barrier of sand bags, boulders, a sand berm and rock wall. In December, two 7.1-foot high tides shot waves over the barrier toward homes on Surfside’s eroded beach but caused no damage.

This weekend, the barrier faces perhaps its biggest test of the winter.

Today’s 7-foot high tide is not expected to be a problem, with good weather and a light surf. But Sunday’s combination of a high tide and waves stirred up by an expected storm could cause problems, residents said.

For the rest of the winter, no other tides above 6 1/2 feet are expected.

Friday, when the high tide rolled in at 7:42 a.m., Surfside’s thin stretch of beach was empty. By contrast, on the mornings of December’s high tides, residents huddled by the barrier and anxiously watched the ocean.

Friday, the mild surf made the ocean look as calm as a lake. The waves looked so harmless neighbors didn’t feel they had to keep watch, resident John Kriss said.

Surfside’s barrier was erected in an 11th-hour rescue effort last month, before the scheduled high tides. City officials helped organize the effort after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers canceled plans to replenish sand on Surfside’s depleted beach because of federal budget cuts.

Barring a major storm, Surfside residents believe they can make it through the winter with no major flooding or damage. Meanwhile, they are trying to pressure the corps to obtain funding for the $10-million sand replenishment program. Only a 15- to 30-foot stretch of beach stands between Surfside and its 260 homes.