The entire Gulf Coast of Florida, from the Keys to Pensacola, is especially vulnerable to storm surge as hurricanes and tropical storms come ashore. Counterclockwise winds push water toward the coast on the "right" side of storm's eye, forcing it across the low country and up the coastal rivers.
This process is accentuated along the Florida Gulf Coast due to the topography of the Gulf itself. A broad shallow area, representing the west portion of the Florida Platform, parallels the State's Gulf Coast; as ocean water is swept in by the storm, it cannot displace downward and builds to destructive depths across the barrier islands and coastal lowlands, leveling structures and flooding the landscape.
Hurricane Michael, now a Category 4 storm, is poised to come ashore near Panama City this morning. Storm surge is expected to reach 13 feet or more in some parts of the Great Bend before the hurricane and its remnants cut a swath of destruction across the eastern Panhandle, south Georgia and the Carolinas.
This process is accentuated along the Florida Gulf Coast due to the topography of the Gulf itself. A broad shallow area, representing the west portion of the Florida Platform, parallels the State's Gulf Coast; as ocean water is swept in by the storm, it cannot displace downward and builds to destructive depths across the barrier islands and coastal lowlands, leveling structures and flooding the landscape.
Hurricane Michael, now a Category 4 storm, is poised to come ashore near Panama City this morning. Storm surge is expected to reach 13 feet or more in some parts of the Great Bend before the hurricane and its remnants cut a swath of destruction across the eastern Panhandle, south Georgia and the Carolinas.
