FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — Neighbors on San Carlos Island are worried as king tides raise the water levels around their homes. They say the water breaches the sea wall just from regular high tides, but with the ongoing king tides, they're especially concerned because a massive boat that washed ashore after Hurricane Milton is dangerously close to their homes. This isn't the first time—this exact boat ended up on land here before.
WATCH THE FULL COVERAGE OF THE BOAT ON SAN CARLOS ISLAND HERE— AS COMMUNITY CORRESPONDENT ANVAR RUZIEV SPEAKS WITH NEIGHBORS:
Residents vividly remember when this same boat was pushed ashore over two years ago during Hurricane Ian.
"In Hurricane Ian, the boat actually was over at Moss Marine and the surge threw it into our road here on San Carlos Drive and actually blocked our drive for about two months," said Monica Lynn, a San Carlos Island resident.
Monica lives just next door to where the boat landed the second time after Hurricane Milton. She says she's lucky the loose boat didn't destroy her home.
"The surge lifted this boat out of the water, and it would have hit my house if the anchor hadn't gotten caught on a piling over at the dock where it had been before," she explained.
Thankfully, the ongoing king tide will only raise the water by a few inches higher than normal, thanks to offshore winds. But neighbors tell us that's still enough to flood some low-lying streets on Fort Myers Beach. Coastal flooding is expected to remain at a minimum, but it could make the already troublesome debris piles from recent hurricanes Milton and Helene a soggy nuisance up until Tuesday, when the king tide ends.
"This happens several times a year, but it's not uncommon. The ground is saturated, and with the king tides, the water breaches the sea wall just from regular high tides," Monica said.
Even though this king tide isn't a danger to her home right now, she's still unsettled about the proximity of the boat.
"So the wind is pushing the water away. But if we would get another hurricane or surge—we've got another six weeks of hurricane season—and that is a genuine concern for me and my neighbors, that that boat could get moved and slam into my house or one of my neighbor's homes, taking out a property or even killing somebody," she expressed.
When we spoke with the neighbor of where the boat was originally docked, she tells us that the owners are still looking for ways to safely remove the boat from the property.
