King tides flood coastal streets in California, Florida and the Carolinas

Flooding from king tides reached streets, homes and businesses across both U.S. coasts this week.

Water covered a section of Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach, California, where Stacey Frederick photographed people wading in knee-deep water and paddleboarding past a coffee shop where she works. Officials shut down traffic on that stretch of the four-lane road. Frederick, 38, who has lived in Huntington Beach for five years, said she had not seen flooding of this depth before. "It floods a little bit, but never to this point," she said.

The tides began with the full moon earlier this week and forecasters said some areas could see flooding into the weekend. King tides form when the Earth, moon and sun align and can occur several times a year. Along the California coast, the super El Nino has warmed the ocean and raised seawater volume, said Roger Gass, a meteorologist with the weather service's Bay Area forecast office in Monterey. Kelvin waves, which are pulses of warm water that lift sea level, added to the effect.

In Florida, high pressure to the north and low pressure over the Caribbean drove larger swells, said Chris Fisher, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Miami. Most of Florida's Atlantic coast was under flood warnings through early Friday. Street flooding was reported in Charleston and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and rip currents were possible as far north as North Carolina's Outer Banks. In Fort Lauderdale, flooded streets sat next to marinas, hotels and convention centers used for the boat show there.

Tides were expected to approach record levels in Orange County and San Diego County in California. In Northern California, the weather service forecast minor flooding through Saturday in low-lying areas along shorelines and tidal waterways during peak high tides. Gass said coastal flooding generally occurred within 1 1/2 hours before and after high tides, which were peaking 1.9 feet above normal in Northern California. Virginia Key, a barrier island in Miami, recorded its highest king tide and the third-highest water level since records began three decades ago, Fisher said. "The only times we've seen higher was during hurricanes," Fisher said. "It's historical from a king tide perspective."