As we’re going to be discussing storm water flooding later this month, (UPDATE: the workshop will now be held on Sat. 11/12/16) I thought this may be a good time to view some pictures of what was experienced in St. Augustine, Fla. as just one example. This being that we will be competing with this city (along with others in need) should we seek State funding for our own standing water issues.
For those of you who haven’t “waded” through the 1,000+ page
report we have received from Craig A. Smith regarding Biscayne Park storm water
assessment, I will at this point offer several observations. During the
first community workshop (held last September), I had the opportunity to speak
with Gene Schriner (president) and site engineer Al Caruso. We discussed some general conditions, they explained their lack of information and I
then offered to assist them by providing “before and after” photos of our standing
water areas throughout the Village. In a follow up email to me Gene states, “Thank you very much for your quick response
to assist on this critical program for the Village. Once I have the time
to further review all the info you have sent I am sure I will be in touch with
you. The public participation portion of this program is critical to more
accurately identify problem areas, severity and to determine the degree of
corrective action.” Further, “Again thank you so much for your interest
and assistance in this program. We will be contacting you once we get the
program underway.”
I mention this as the genesis of how and why we started collecting the time-stamped photos of our standing water areas.
I mention this as the genesis of how and why we started collecting the time-stamped photos of our standing water areas.
Moving forward I never heard back from either Gene or Al
again- even after reaching out to provide them the link to our additional and updated
photo entries. However, I saw in their report that they did indeed use some
of the pictures we provided… but curiously only
the worst case scenario ones from 16 years ago during the No Name Storm of
2000.
I would have thought the most current photos that depict our more usual
and normal water puddling would have been better examples but then again,
that’s not what we got. I suspect the reason for this is that it would be a much harder sell based on the $13M (thirteen million dollar) project cost estimate.
Be that as it may, they also excluded the one photo from the No Name Storm that actually shows some sense of scale as to the depth of water on the street. It is shown below with one last photo from St. Augustine… can you SEE the difference?
Be that as it may, they also excluded the one photo from the No Name Storm that actually shows some sense of scale as to the depth of water on the street. It is shown below with one last photo from St. Augustine… can you SEE the difference?
Standing Watch,
Milton Hunter
The Biscayne Parker
I think we all need to put things in perspective. With the exception of the once in a lifetime type event like the "no name storm" what we get is not flooding. We have some areas that get standing water or ponding - annoying - yes - but also gone in a few hours. Look at Jax Beach and St. Augustine and what they have gone through with Hurricane Matthew - that is flooding. If the Village had a regular program of drain maintenance we would likely alleviate much of the issues we currently have.
ReplyDeleteHi Janey,
ReplyDeleteOne of the main points Gene (the engineer) made, (and the first question asked of him) was to explain what "actual" storm water flooding is. And that is simply standing water (on Village property) for a period of between 12-24 hours.
We have a few residents that don't seem to know the difference between puddles and actual storm water flooding. That, or they have some different agenda want wrapped around this topic. And that creates a problem for all of us. The photos we captured over the past year illustrate this condition for what it is. Or isn't.
Since the presentation a year ago, I've been looking at streets in our village after heavy rainstorms probably like everyone else. I haven't seen any real issues - water standing for 12 - 24 hours. Keep the drains cleaned out and and maybe this should be done twice a year instead of once a year. For years we never cleaned the drains and even then we never had what would be described as heavy flooding.
Delete"Moderate to severe flooding." What Village were they talking about? I have lived here for 40 years and I remember a few streets that had water across the road for a day or so but they worked on those areas. When I see the real flooding that Miami Beach, Sweetwater and other sections of Miami and the state have I would be embarrassed to ask for money to fix our short lived puddles.
DeleteHello Barbara,
DeleteHere are a couple of direct quotes from the report:
1) "Without a stormwater system to collect, convey, and discharge the runoff offsite, the water does not go anywhere. With poor soil conditions that deter the surface water from percolating, the water has the potential to stand for several days."
2) "With little relief, storm runoff from intense storm events has resulted in ponding that remains for several days."
3) "Due to little topographic relief in some areas of the Village, low-lying property elevations, undersized stormwater networks and the lack of positive outfalls, the Village has suffered moderate to severe flooding during concentrated storm events."
Nope, sorry but that's just not true. Several hours, yes... but several days? These statements are both incorrect and misleading. Submitted without any proof or merit. We already have 40+ year residents on record stating they haven't seen standing water for "days" other than once in 2000. And that includes dealing with many hurricanes and "concentrated storm events" over that time period. Oh, and BTW, this is only a 30% plan. There has been no mention of the additional costs to become shovel ready.
And I'm not even going to get into the idea of pumping stormwater into the canal or the fearmongering about the “100 year storm” today... we'll discuss that concept another time.
I have never seen ponding A little puddle here and there
ReplyDeleteI agree with the general consensus mentioned in the comments so far: Biscayne Park does not have a flooding problem. We have some areas of temporary ponding in times of high rainrates. The can be a mild nuisance if you don't want to drive through an area of water and chose to use a different road. But wait a few hours and the problem spot will be fine. If we are competing with cities that actually do have flooding problems, we're in trouble. Spending a bit of money on simple drain installation and maintenance would be more prudent than spending a whole lot of money on implementing this mega storm water management plan... our problems are not major enough to warrant a major project.
ReplyDeleteHi Brian,
DeleteIt's good to hear from you as always. I always value your insight and opinions as you know much more about weather related conditions than I do. So, thanks for stopping by and adding to the conversation.
Best,
Milt