Record King Tides are swamping coastal neighborhoods from Florida to California this week, breaking flood marks set by hurricanes — and the press is already spinning a predictable, natural annual cycle into climate emergency to justify the policies that kill American energy jobs and drive up your utility bills.

A King Tide is simply the highest naturally occurring tide of the year. It happens every fall. Even on clear, sunny days with no storm in sight, these seasonal tides push seawater back up through storm drains and onto coastal streets. This year's cycle is worse than recent ones, thanks to a strengthening El Niño and persistent onshore winds — not your gas stove.

In South Port Everglades, flooding reached 2.51 feet above normally dry ground Tuesday, surpassing the old record set during Hurricane Nicole in 2022, according to the FOX Forecast Center. Tuesday ranked among the top five flood events on record at Virginia Key, Port Canaveral, and Lake Worth. Coastal Flood Warnings remain in effect through Friday across parts of South Florida, Georgia, and the South Carolina Lowcountry. Fort Lauderdale told residents to expect road closures through Thursday.

One Miami resident told FOX Weather it was "the worst I've seen in the four years I've been here." Another said: "I was above my boots in water."

Out West, the story is the same. The King Tide reached 8 feet, 2 inches in the Los Angeles Harbor Tuesday, breaking a record set the day before, CBS News reported. The Pacific Coast Highway was inundated. Water came up through storm drains. Linda Holle, who works at a marine fueling station in Newport Beach, said her office was flooded and she had never seen flooding like it.

In Redondo Beach, 72-year-old Chris Martz, who has lived in the area his whole life, told ABC7 he had "never seen anything like this in my whole life." Water from King Harbor spilled onto sidewalks, forcing businesses like BALEENkitchen to bucket out water and temporarily close.

Here is what the climate coverage will not tell you: NOAA data cited by ABC7 shows this El Niño season is expected to strengthen into winter, with water temperatures now surpassing the 2015 and 1997-98 El Niño years as the warmest on modern record. El Niño is a natural ocean-atmosphere cycle. It has happened for centuries. CBS News noted that experts say king tides during full moons in November and December could be even worse — meaning this may not even be the peak.

There is also a practical cost the media will not connect to their climate narrative. AAA is warning that vehicles exposed to saltwater face accelerated corrosion, degraded braking systems, and ruined electrical wiring. Automotive repair expert Todd Kelm of Gretchen's Automotive in Long Beach told ABC7 that electric vehicles are particularly at risk: salt residue creates "a perfect conductor" between battery terminals, potentially causing a short circuit and fire "days or weeks afterwards." EV owners may not realize there is a problem until their car catches fire.

The press will use footage of flooded streets to sell you on EPA rulemaking, pipeline shutdowns, and mandates that make your electricity more expensive. They will bury the fact that King Tides are natural, predictable, and annual. They will skip the El Niño context. They will not mention that coastal communities have been building in flood zones for decades. The question is not whether the water is rising this week — it is. The question is who pays when the establishment uses it to justify another round of energy mandates that never seem to lower the tide, only your take-home pay.