Tropical Storm Nicole: Rising waters, high tides affect areas of Volusia County

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — Rising waters, high tides and the failure of a drainage system to a canal are just some of the issues residents in Volusia County are facing after Tropical Storm Nicole made its way through the area.

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Residents in Daytona Beach are seeing flooding caused by high tides. Some business owners told WFTV that it usually happens, but fortunately, this time, they were prepared.

As the sun came up Thursday morning, Hurricane Nicole began to move through the area.

Read: NICOLE LIVE UPDATES: Orlando International Airport to resume limited operations Thursday evening

“We got more from the tidal surge. We’re below sea level. The property is below sea level,” said Walter Beddard, who has owned Walt’s Automotive and Transmission on North Beach Street for the last 39 years.

Beddard said even with improvements the city has done, nothing has changed.

“So it’s a lot deeper this time than what we went through... it’s probably twice as deep.”

NICOLE LIVE UPDATES: Volusia County officials report ‘unprecedented’ damage to coastline

South of Daytona Beach in Port Orange, Rose Bay was slowly creeping up to nearby houses. Resident Tessa Blakemore told WFTV that emergency crews went through the area Wednesday and Thursday to urge people to leave, but a lot of them are staying put.

“We’re very cautious about it. We draw lines to kind of watch it, and I’ve been up and down probably almost every hour on the hour all night just to watch the flooding,” said Blakemore.

Nicole caused another issue in the Wood neighborhood when the drainage system that feeds into a nearby canal failed. This neighborhood was completely flooded during Hurricane Ian. Randy Brett told WFTV he didn’t want to see a repeat with Nicole.

Read: Tropical Storm Nicole: Here’s when Orlando’s theme parks plan to reopen

“Well, the police come through here a couple of times here in the last couple of hours and recommended that we evacuate, but I see no reason to evacuate,” said Brett.

The water began to recede for residents just at the peak of the high tides Thursday morning. Meanwhile, crews are working on fixing that breach.

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