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Hurricane Nate contributing to higher than usual tides in Tampa Bay

Carolyn Yovan walks her dog Mitsy in flood waters in St. Pete Beach.

All around the Gulf, tides are at an elevated level.

People living near St. Pete Beach experienced sea water from Boca Ciega Bay reaching their front yards Saturday morning.

Carolyn Yovan recently moved near the Don CeSar. We found her walking her dog, Mitsy, in nearly two feet of water.

“To not even have a storm and just walk outside and see that this is tide and repercussions from a tropical storm in the Gulf is kind of disarming,” says Yovan.

Yovan says she was prepared for Hurricane Irma, but not high tide.

“The biggest worry would be it coming into my house and ruining what I have left.”

Fortunately, as the day went by the water started receding back into the bay, but 10 News Meteorologist Ashley Batey explains that the tides will be fluctuating throughout the weekend.

“Tides will still be elevated for the next few days,” says Batey. “The tides would have already been high without (Hurricane Nate).”

During this time of year, the sun and moon align, creating a stronger gravitational pull. Then Hurricane Nate pushed already high water further into shore.

Eric Pettersen sent us this video of water reaching the docks at St. Pete Beach on Saturday morning.

Just a few houses down from Yovan, we found Michael Welch, who says things were just going back to normal for him.

He lost power for a week after Hurricane Irma.

“This morning, the gulf was a block and a half away. Now, it's 15 feet away from my front door,” says Welch.

After living here for 20 years, Welch knows the drill and knows this is normal.

That’s why his home is 5 feet above sea level.

“If you're living on the beach you're taking certain risks. I've lived on beaches my whole life,” he says.

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