Flood woes likely to linger
South Tampa has the city's 10 worst flooding spots, and although officials are working on it, things probably won't change any time soon.
By CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD
Published July 30, 2004
Summer is in full swing, and South Tampa is going underwater again.
With the clockwork regularity of 95-degree temperatures, azure skies and Coppertone-toting tourists, the season has brought drenching rain to overwhelm the peninsula's antiquated network of culverts and drain pipes.
Just last week, over three days, up to 8 inches of rain pounded the city.
Each year, streets become rivers, intersections become ponds and thousands of motorists watch the tide rise over their tires and ask, "Who will part these waters?"
The short answer: The city's working on it, but minus tens of millions of unforeseen dollars, expect to stay soaked for years.
South Tampa may boast the city's toniest ZIP codes, but it also features the 10 worst flooding spots in all of Tampa, according to the city's stormwater department.
The problem is nothing new. As a boy growing up in South Tampa in the 1960s, City Council member John Dingfelder knew what to expect when it rained.
"We used to build our little Huck Finn rafts and float up and down Himes and Barcelona," said Dingfelder, who represents South Tampa. "Whenever there was a hard rain, you knew it was going to flood at our corner."
Last summer, Dingfelder used his truck to rescue a neighbor whose sports car had stalled at the flooded intersection of San Rafael and Obrapia streets.
So why South Tampa? Blame the flatness, its low elevation, the two bays that buffet the peninsula on either side and the area's reliance on a strained, 1920s-era drainage system that has never been overhauled.
Construction has played a role, too. Development has crowded natural creeks that once collected stormwater, and acres of pavement cover soil that once soaked up the water.
"We're relying on an under-designed system," said Mike Salmon, director of the city's stormwater department. "The South Tampa drainage system was based on rural runoff intensities. It never contemplated homes the size they are now, or the paving that now exists."
Last year, the City Council passed a stormwater tax that amounts to a few dollars a year per homeowner.
The tax has raised $1.8-million so far, half of which the city plans to spend on a study identifying flooding areas and possible improvements. The rest will go for upkeep of the existing drainage system, which constitutes 366 miles of stormwater pipes, 180 miles of ditches, 103 ponds and more than 20,000 water inlets.
"We haven't done anything significant in a long time," Salmon said. "I don't think there really has been a citywide initiative to counter flooding before now."
Two conspicuous trouble spots: the intersections of Dale Mabry Highway and Henderson Boulevard, and Dale Mabry and Neptune Street. "(Mayor Iorio) has given those a very high priority," he said. "She wants them not to be retention ponds."
Estimated price tag: $10-million.
Alex Awad, an engineer with the stormwater department, said such projects pose logistical difficulties that most people don't consider. There are essentially two places to direct the water: Hillsborough Bay and Old Tampa Bay.
Building underground pipes would involve tearing up pricey, much-used roads, such as Bayshore Boulevard, which borders Hillsborough Bay.
The city is considering alternatives. "You could put a pump," Awad said. "You could buy property and put a retention pond (or) upsize the drainage system."
Assuming the public is willing to fund improvements, stormwater department officials said citywide fixes should begin in the next three to four years and continue for the next 50.
"I think if we look at it as a long-term problem with a long-term solution, the public will be there," Dingfelder said. "I think if we hit the public tomorrow and say, "We need a couple hundred million dollars,' I don't think the public could go for that."
The city plans to install stormwater pipes around West Tampa Elementary School on N MacDill Avenue, where the streets are prone to flood during rains, an infuriating experience for parents en route to pick up their kids. "That's one of our priority projects this year," Dingfelder said.
Herbert Lyon, 69, said that during a storm he becomes a prisoner in his Bayshore Beautiful home on Fairoaks Avenue.
"I can't get out of the area," he said. "I can't go down Dale Mabry, and in heavy rain I can't go up Bayshore."
Increasingly exasperated by the flooding problems, Lyon said he has contacted a lawyer about suing the city in the hopes of forcing a building moratorium until adequate storm-drainage measures are in place. Over the years he has seen the city install a few retention ponds "just to keep people from revolting," he said, but no meaningful systematic measures.
Lyon said city leaders continue to allow construction without proper regard for the effect on flooding. "They have given in to the developers totally," he said.
During the 12 years he has lived in his ranch-style home, monster homes have sprung up all around him, he said.
"I had to buy the lot next to me just to keep one of the McMansions from going up," he said.
- Christopher Goffard can be reached at 226-3337 or goffard@sptimes.com