I had a neighbor confused by the storm surge info. I think he maybe saw the 9 feet on that earlier nearby and then added the tide, because he thought maybe 12 feet was coming from the earlier values. Honestly, a lot of times I am confused too. Does it include the tide or do you add it to the tide?
The public advisory is clear:
"STORM SURGE: The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline. The water could reach the following heights above ground somewhere in the indicated areas if the peak surge occurs at the time of high tide..."
But other products honestly get a bit confusing. And people talk about that 4 to 6 feet for example being the surge, even on TV. So that confuses things. You have to read the NHC advisory.