High tides on the Gold Coast bring back memories of Mother Nature's fury early in 2013

AS water lapped at their front driveways Thursday morning, Gold Coasters were thankful the New Year king tide had not wreaked the havoc it did only a year before.

The big tide flooded streets around the Nerang River. Pic: twitter.com/JarradBrevi

AS water lapped at their front driveways Thursday morning, Gold Coasters were thankful the New Year king tide had not wreaked the havoc it did only a year before.

Water seeped up from drains on Pine Street and Palm Avenue at high tide at Budds Beach yesterday morning as residents stood in the street to watch the spectacle.

Children had a rare opportunity to swim in the street as water covered streets and encroached on driveways and front lawns at about 9am.

Budds Beach Community Association president Rod O'Kane was one of a group of locals who watched the water rise as the 1.87m tide affected parking arrangements in his street.

Mr O'Kane said it gets so wet in the streets of Budds Beach at high tide that marine life can sometimes be found on the ground.

"It's a high tide, it's not the worst we've seen," he said.

"It flows over the gutters.

"We get mud crabs."

The long-time Budds Beach resident said he had contacted the council about addressing the issue.

"We believe you could put one-way flow drains in," he said.

"We've been pushing, not hardly because we know council are short on funds.

"It's still coming in, we can see it."

One resident, who asked not to be named, said she remembered waking up to news crews about a year ago who covered the flooding of houses in the street due to tide movements.

The woman said she watched the water rise yesterday but said the tide had not created as much trouble for Budds Beach residents as it had early in 2013.

"This has just come up really, really quickly," she said.

At Chevron Island, rising water bogged walking paths under bridges and flooded fishing platforms.

Norman Odgaard from Southport brought his young family fishing yesterday morning and said he was surprised to see amenities under water.

"It's the first time I've seen it like this," he said.

Volunteer Marine Rescue Southport radio operator John Sinclair said the 1.87m high tide at 8.50am was not particularly high and said the VMR had no calls for assistance.