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Another Night Of Seasonal High Tides On Miami Beach

MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) - Seasonal high tides are creating a watery mess on Miami Beach. The twice-daily flooding is impacting residents, business owners, and vacationers.

Each year, sometimes twice a year, the sun, earth and moon line up just right to create higher than normal tides. And it's happening again right now causing exceptionally high tides along South Florida's coastal areas.

On Miami Beach, Alton Road and 10th Street and Alton and 5th Street have been underwater during high tide. Storm and bay water pushes up through the infrastructure and overflows onto the streets.

"It's definitely not a good situation," said Mike Charman who just arrived from England.  He wasn't expecting streets covered in water.

"It's a bit of a nightmare trying to cross the roads," he said.

Most cars plowed right through the water, while bicyclists and pedestrians tried to find alternate routes.

Marisa Santillo said, "We just came back from dinner and we were trying to bike on to 10th street and we obviously couldn't get on it."

Businesses found ways to deal with the flooding.  At Cara Mia, an Italian restaurant on Alton Road, customers could park in the back to avoid the flooded sidewalks.

"Fortunately the business is good but it could be better without the tide," said owner Gigi Coppolino.

The tidal flooding is expected again Saturday, then should gradually get better next week.

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