One of the reasons northeast Florida received such horrendous storm surge is because that is where Irma lost its high winds.

The storm was no longer pushing the water. The water's weight and gravity were stronger than the winds of Irma. 

Northeast Florida received the end of the storm surge as well as heavy rains. When looking to other storms, except for Harvey, Irma was over land a long time. It not only was over land for a long time, Irma maintained high winds because of it's extensive water vapor support.

The year of 2005 was a record year in the way of the number of storms that also included three major Cat. 4 and 5 systems. But, this year, it is the manifestation of the climate crisis storm that receives water vapor fuel from areas that support high velocity and/or prolonged vitality of the storm.

There have never been hurricanes such as Harvey and Irma in the history of the USA's records. None have lingered so long over land and dumped enormous amounts of water. Harvey is thought to have dropped a trillion gallons of water. That was unheard of before this year. It is tipping point.