Water levels are rising along seawalls, docks and canal banks this week as the tides reach their fall peak, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Thursday. Ankle-deep water flowed over a section of a Fort Lauderdale boulevard and an inch of water covered parts of a state highway near Hollywood, the newspaper said.

Low-lying areas were expected to be vulnerable to similar soakings as high tides will persist through Friday, forecasters said.

Stiff onshore breezes, coupled with the gravitational pull from a new moon, are the culprits, they say.

"We have a lot of wind coming down from the north, northerly winds about 20 to 25 mph," meteorologist Chuck Caracozza of the National Weather Service said.

"It's a normal event; it happens every year," said Nancy Gassman, natural resources administrator for Broward County, noting this week's tides are 8 to 10 inches above average. "The fall tides tend to be more extreme."

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