Widespread flooding in St. Augustine from Hurricane Matthew

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – St. Augustine Mayor Nancy Shaver says the 451-year-old city is experiencing widespread flooding from Hurricane Matthew.  The Category 3 storm battered the city much of Friday with waves and storm surge that could top 8 feet.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Shaver said the flooding "is just going to get higher and higher and higher."

The mayor said roughly half of St. Augustine's 14,000 residents chose to stay in their homes. No injuries or deaths had been reported as of Friday afternoon, but the mayor said it will be several hours before authorities can get out and begin damage assessments.

She said damage will be "widespread" and "there are houses that will probably not ever be the same again or not even be there."

One silver lining, she said, is that the worst of the surge did not occur at high tide, which was around 1:30 p.m. Friday.