Tampa and Hillsborough officials monitor pumping stations ahead of expecting storm

Hillsborough County preparing for approaching storm

FOX 13's Kylie Jones reports.

TAMPA, Fla. - The City of Tampa and Hillsborough County officials are monitoring pumping stations and starting to open sandbag sites ahead of Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine.

The city announced it’s opening three sandbag sites starting Tuesday at 8 a.m. to seniors and people who need extra assistance. The sites will open to everyone on Tuesday at noon until 7 p.m.

City officials said the sites will open to all residents on Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

TROPICS: Tropical Storm watch issued for parts of Florida ahead of Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine

Hillsborough County Public Works crews are making sure the storm water infrastructure is clear and operating properly, in anticipation of possible flooding. Crews said there are more than 40 pumping stations around Hillsborough County.

"We have over 12 portable pumps set out," Fred Hartless with Hillsborough County Public Works said. "We're fueling them every day, checking them, ensure they're working, the batteries are going."

Hartless said they’re also monitoring the particularly low-lying areas and are ready to deploy portable pumps if necessary.

"The other things that we're doing as well is jet-vaccing out pipes and picking up, cleaning curb and gutter," Hartless said.

He said a lot of their work is preventative and done prior to the rainy season.

"You have to clean the grates out daily, really encourage folks not to throw things in the gutter, because it does end up in our storm system," he said. "And, just this very small amount of litter, sometimes, can cause catastrophic failure."

Hartless said the preventative year round maintenance is just as important as their post-storm cleanup.

"When we have our dry season, a lot of our folks might see our John Deere tractors going down the side of the road four to six times a year when it's raining and the grass is growing," he said. "We take those same folks, they're cleaning our ponds and clearing all that infrastructure. The other thing is, we're focusing on our canal system."

From January to May, Hartless said they did preventative maintenance on more than 10,000 feet of stormwater piping. Crews in Hillsborough County and the City of Tampa have also been in response mode recently, following several instances of heavy rain that resulted in flooding.

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Areas of Hillsborough County have been repeatedly inundated with massive amounts of rain in just a few hours.

"I cannot remember it raining this hard in that short amount of time," Hartless said. "So, the infrastructure that we have, even if it's 100% working, it's not going to handle something like that."

In the event of major flooding, crews are ready to be stationed throughout the county 24/7 to monitor these systems.

"The last storm, we had about 12 folks that worked through the night throughout, making sure this works out," Hartless said. "And, we're prepared to do that again to keep the road safe, so we make sure our first responders can get and provide emergency services."

The county is also asking residents to do their part by clearing out their own gutters and storm drain ditches. They also urge people not to clog the ditches with trash or other debris. The county asks residents to report issues as soon as possible.

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