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Dear Neighbor,
Just this past weekend, our City had an enormous amount of rainfall, including a record set on Sunday, and in the wake of the flooding caused by Hurricane Nicole, the City is ever aware of the challenges that stormwater and tidal flooding present to our community.
Our stormwater management is a critical element of the City’s infrastructure, and as you know, infrastructure has been a major priority of mine and the Commission these past 4+ years. Even though the rainy season, hurricane season, and seasonal king tides are winding down for the year, NOW is the time to make this a major focus for our City. Fort Lauderdale is in the process of making its largest investment ever in stormwater and flood control. We launched a five-year, $200 million plan to alleviate vulnerabilities, focusing on our most flood-prone areas.
Even though Fort Lauderdale was spared the worst from Hurricane Nicole, the flooding we saw was due to several different factors occurring at the same time; namely, king tides, storm surge, and rainfall. Coinciding with the already high tides, known as king tides, the storm surge from Nicole resulted in tides that were two feet higher than predicted. Even low tides were higher.
This created conditions where the water from the storm surge was above our stormwater outfall pipes, meaning it could not drain the water from the tide – resulting in flooding in low-lying areas. We also received three inches of rainfall during the storm, adding to the amount of water above the outfall pipes that could not be drained.
I am committed to maintaining and implementing systems that improve and protect our District’s resilience to storm events and sea level rise. After Hurricane Nicole hit, we received many calls which reported flooding in areas such as the Las Olas Isles, Victoria Park, Idlewyld and A1A and 9th Street, to name a few.
Let’s start with the beach. A1A and 9th has been a problem in the Central beach area for many, MANY years. The most challenging component of this location is that A1A is a State-controlled road. This means we are limited in scope to what we can do regarding mitigation and, more importantly, implementing solutions. I must give kudos to our City Manager, Greg Chavarria, as a few days before Hurricane Nicole, Greg worked with Gerry O’Reilly, District Four Secretary for FDOT, in anticipation of the upcoming storm. Mr. O’Reilly confirmed that crews had cleaned and video-inspected the entire system on A1A and 9th a few days prior to ensure that it would not exacerbate any of the flooding that was to occur. I have asked Greg to be aggressive with State talks and have requested firm plans to upgrade this system. I expect meetings between our City Manager and State officials before the end of the year. We have also communicated with our State Representative Chip LaMarca to assist in this effort.
Victoria Park saw heavy flooding on 7th Street at 19th and 20th Avenues, among other areas. Neighbors reported that when this flooding occurs, large trucks and cars drive by, pushing the flooded water into their yards, and at times into their homes.
Victoria Park is one of the seven neighborhoods prioritized for stormwater improvements as part of the Bond program. The design is complete, with a solicitation and construction award scheduled for FY2024 and completion in FY2026. In the interim, I will ensure that City Staff will be proactive at these locations and have traffic mitigation, No Wake Signs and barriers immediately installed to avoid cars impacting adjacent properties.
Much of the flooding that took place in the Las Olas Isles neighborhoods was due to a combination of the same issues: king tides, groundwater levels, storm surge, easterly winds prior to hurricane landfall and rainfall. Keeping in mind that the City’s stormwater management system is designed for high frequency/low intensity events (e.g. daily rain events), it is not surprising that this combination of factors associated with a tropical storm event resulted in ponded water that took several days to resolve. One area in particular was the privately installed catch basin at the Isles of Palms cul de sac. City staff will be cleaning out this catch basin in the very near future as soon as the completion of construction in that area allows. We have one more king tide period this season, predicted from November 23 - November 27 and City Staff will be monitoring this location.
In the Las Olas Isles neighborhood, we have already increased the height of the Isle of Palm seawall and four of the seawalls on the south side of Las Olas Boulevard are currently under contract to be elevated in the coming months. These elevated seawalls will improve the community’s resilience to sea level rise and flooding from storms and king tide events by more effectively restricting tidal waters from entering the City’s roadways.
Idlewyld also experienced several days of flooding associated with the events surrounding Hurricane Nicole. Flood mitigation efforts are underway in this area as well. The City has installed a tidal valve at Aurelia and Poinciana and has included funding in the five-year capital improvement plan to elevate the seawall at Aurelia and the one at Solar Plaza and SE 5th Street in fiscal year 2024. The seawall at Merle Fogg Park has already been designed and is expected to be constructed by September 30, 2023.
On Monday of this week, we received word from Sunrise Key residents that that there is no tidal backflow coverage in the church parking lot (private property) and the catch basin at the southeast corner of the intersection of N.E. 19th Ave. and N.E. 7th Street. Upon receipt of this feedback, I brought this to the attention of city engineers for immediate review. We will be following up with Sunrise Key in the coming weeks and will monitor this closely.
The City is also proposing an amendment to the Unified Land Development Regulations to set a minimum elevation for new or substantially improved seawalls and other tidal barriers to five feet NAVD88 in compliance with Broward County’s regional resiliency standards for tidal flood protection. The proposed amendments are currently being discussed with various stakeholders prior to soliciting a recommendation for Commission approval from the Planning and Zoning Board. The ordinance amendments will further strengthen and prepare our City for future sea level rise.
Please note that while the King Tide for this week was expected to begin on Wednesday, November 23, the observed tide began to exceed the local threshold for flooding on low lying roadways on Saturday, November 19. Monday’s peak tide was nearly 14 inches above predicted and 0.7 feet above our flooding threshold. Nuisance flooding should be expected through the holiday weekend and into next week.
Living in a coastal community presents flooding challenges, but there is no excuse for not being proactive to combat these issues. In the past several weeks since Hurricane Nicole, our Assistant Public Works Director, Dr. Nancy Gassman, has done site visits to the areas mentioned above to help assist our District 2 residents. Along with giving neighbors detailed explanations of their particular flooding events, she is also taking this information back to our city engineers to work towards solutions. If you are experiencing stormwater issues, please do not hesitate to reach out to my office directly. My staff and I are committed to addressing each and every challenge as they arise and will work tirelessly with city staff to alleviate these concerns for our neighbors in all parts of the city, especially in District 2.
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