High tide and rough sea warning for St. Augustine

St. Johns County Fire Rescue Lt. Jeremy Robshaw wants to inform local Historic City News readers that Northeast Florida beaches, including St. Johns County, will be experiencing extreme surf and high tides throughout the weekend and into next week.

These extreme storm conditions create a wrack line by pushing large amounts of sargassum seaweed onto the beach. Juvenile sea turtles, or wash backs, can become trapped in the seaweed resulting in exhaustion — putting them in need of medical attention.

Volunteers, coordinated by St. Johns County, known as the “Wash back Watchers” will be conducting surveys throughout the weekend to recover wash back sea turtles

Please do not push the animal back into the water.

In addition, there is a potential for vehicular access to be restricted intermittently throughout the weekend due to the extreme surf and high tides associated with the storm.

St. Johns County staff will be monitoring the storm to ensure that public safety remains a priority. Based on the weather forecast for the weekend and due to expected hazardous conditions the ocean and beach will be a dangerous place through the weekend and people are not encouraged to enter the water under any circumstances.

If you have an emergency or witness an emergency incident, please utilize the 911 emergency systems. If you encounter a marine animal stranded on the beach, please call the Sheriff’s department at 904-824-8304 non-emergency line for assistance.

For information regarding sea turtles or if you are interested in becoming a volunteer contact Environmental Coordinator Tara Dodson at 904- 209-3740