When you think of storms like hurricanes and tropical storms, flooding, wind, and tornadoes may come to mind, but the most damaging and deadly part of the storms is actually storm surge.
"About half of all storm deaths are caused by storm surge," says CBS 47/FOX 30 Action News Jax Chief Meteorologist Mike Buresh.
He says storm surge is exactly what it sounds like.
"It's just a big surge of water, off the Atlantic, into our coastline and up the St. Johns River, too."
And that surge of water is what scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmosphere Science spend so much time studying.
They have created the world's largest storm surge simulator called SUSTAIN, which stands for Surge Structure Atmosphere Interaction Facility.
Dr.Brian Haus is the director of the facility. He tells our partner Action News Jax storm surge can, at times, be hard to predict, especially as storms gain strength.
"When you turn this facility up to extreme winds, the way that the waves are breaking and the spray that's being thrown off of that, it's very different than what we would've thought," Haus says.
And, as he explains, that can be unsettling news for those of us in Jacksonville.
"One of the most frequent places in the Atlantic basin where hurricanes go is about 100 miles offshore of Jacksonville."
But even if you don't live directly in Jacksonville, that doesn't mean you're safe.
"Ponte Vedra alone in St. Johns County would be a tremendous evacuation, as would be Duval County, just purely because the population has more than doubled," Buresh points out.
All it takes is the right weather pattern at the wrong time. For example, in Atlantic Beach, you could see storm surge of up to 15-20 feet, which is enough to reach many homes and businesses.
Unfortunately for us, the clock seems to be ticking on our next storm.
"This is the longest stretch we've gone without a land-falling hurricane in Jacksonville," says Buresh. That last hurricane was Hurricane Dora back in 1964.Â
Stay up-to-date on what's happening using our interactive radar, checking Buresh's blog, and listening live during hurricane season.
