High tides and strong winds damage shoreline and bring rough seas to Treasure Coast

Near tropical storm-force winds with a weekend cold front and high tides from Hurricane Teddy damaged shoreline and created dangerous sea conditions across the Treasure Coast.

Monday morning the National Weather Service issued a gale warning spanning Brevard to Martin counties with wind gusts recorded between 30 to 35 mph along with heavy rain and lightning.

The agency issued a coastal flood advisory for shoreline across the Treasure Coast and predicted “moderate to major” beach erosion from rough seas, which it stated could reach or pass over dunes.

The National Hurricane Center said Monday Hurricane Teddy is a Category 2 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph, located about 160 miles southeast of Bermuda, moving north-northeast at 9 mph. It's impacting the U.S. east coast with wind and waves.

More: Tropics watch: TS Beta to drench Gulf Coast, Teddy threatens Canada; updates for Monday, Sept. 21

"(Monday) will be the windiest day of the week," said Meteorologist Scott Kelly.

Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties all saw top wind gusts of 34 mph recorded between 6 p.m. Sunday and 1 a.m. Monday.

Kelly said a high pressure system to the northeast brought the strong winds along with a cold front that will keep temperatures in the mid-80s through at least Wednesday.

More: NWS says weekend front expected to bring 'kind of' fall-like weather to Treasure Coast

"Winds wont be as strong tomorrow (Tuesday)," Kelly said. "It will be breezy along the coast."

He said a high rip current risk will remain thanks in part to Hurricane Teddy, which is producing higher-than-normal tides.

"The only thing that Teddy is producing is the large swell affecting the coast," Kelly said. "There is an indirect impact."

He said that swell and higher-than-normal tide could push seawater past dunes.

"That’s going to cause some erosion and some minor coastal flooding is possible," Kelly said.

Corey Arwood is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Corey on Twitter @coreyarwood, or reach him by phone at 772-978-2246.

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