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Tampa working to keep up with stormwater maintenance after region saw twice as much rain in August

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Published  September 11, 2024 6:31pm EDT
Tampa
FOX 13 News

City of Tampa working to improve drainage systems

Kylie Jones reports

TAMPA, Fla. - The City of Tampa said the Bay Area saw almost twice as much rain than usual in August. Recent heavy rain has flooded neighborhoods around Tampa with stormwater, and it’s left some residents with concerns about the strength of the city’s drainage system.

The city said it’s working to improve drainage systems after rain has pummeled low-lying areas in South Tampa with flooding and traffic delays.

"In the past few years, the rains haven't been that bad, and it really hasn't been an issue," one neighbor in South Tampa said. "But this year, with all the rains we've been getting, I mean, every time it rains now, those ditches fill up, and they're coming this way."

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City officials said the area was inundated with 17.78 inches of rain in August, which is nearly twice the normal amount of 9.03 inches. A lot of that stormwater flows straight into the drainage ditches that line the streets throughout Tampa.

"As you can see in the mouth of this pipe, it holds back water, because it's not clear all the way out to the outflow," said George Cox, a team leader with the City of Tampa’s Mobility Department.

The city said its stormwater system consists of 600 miles of stormwater pipe. City crews are doubling down on ditch clearing and maintenance of 180 miles of ditches across Tampa.

Neighbors are happy to see the continued stormwater maintenance, after recent rainstorms have flooded neighborhoods around South Tampa.

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"It's only come up to the sidewalk on this side," a neighbor said. "But on that side over there, I mean I've seen it come, you know, 10 feet from their front door, just standing water."

Mobility crews said this maintenance is a year-round job and that they monitor the drains, ditches and flood-prone areas daily. They said this preventative maintenance is vital to keep the drainage systems from backing up when this much rain is dumped on the area.

"The cleaner the system, the more capacity it holds, the more volume of water that travels through the system, the faster the water gets off the street," Cox said.

The city said recent storms have dumped three to five inches of water on the area in just an hour.

"Five inches of rain is really a lot of heavy volume of water," said Derek Graham, another team leader with the City of Tampa’s Mobility Department. "And it's hard for a system to work adequately with that much rainfall in the ground."

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Crews said the system is working, but that no system can handle this much rain in that amount of time.

As crews hit drainage system hotspots around Tampa, they’re asking residents to help report issues, so they can reach them before the next storm.

The city said it’s also in different stages of stormwater infrastructure improvement projects in some of these hotspot areas, like southeast Seminole Heights, the North Tampa Closed Basin, Manhattan Avenue, the Golfview Project and the Lower Peninsula Project.

City officials said these are long-term projects and are in various stages of planning, design and construction. You can see where street flooding is in real-time by visiting Tampa.gov/FloodMap. You can report flooding to the City of Tampa by calling (813) 274-3101.

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