Milton swamped these Tampa Bay neighborhoods. None were in flood zones

When Lisa Vacante was ready to buy a home in St. Petersburg, she chose the popular Kenwood neighborhood because it was “right smack in the middle of a no evacuation zone.”

“My dad and grandfather lived in Shore Acres and I saw how high the water got every time it rained,” she said. “I knew I didn’t want that.”

Over the last 19 years she rode out hurricanes in her 4-bedroom, 2-bath home on 14th Avenue North, but she never experienced one like Hurricane Milton.

Her car was fully submerged by heavy rains. Water seeped in under the floors of her home and sewage spewed out of her shower drain.

Maps drawn up by the Federal Emergency Management Agency show that Vacante’s home is not in a “flood-risk zone.” Neither were the homes in Lutz, New Tampa and across swaths of Pasco County which experienced devastating flooding, even days after Milton had passed. Extreme flooding after hurricanes Debby and Idalia also inundated Tampa Bay communities, shocking some residents who had never experienced serious flooding until recent years.

Now, thousands of residents across Tampa Bay who trusted that they lived in neighborhoods that don’t flood — not like those closer to the coast — are shaken this weekend as they assess the damage.

The term “flood-risk zone” is misleading, said Trevor Burgess, president and CEO of Neptune Flood, an insurer based in St. Petersburg.

“Everyone in Florida is at risk from hurricane flooding,” he said. “It just comes down to whether or not you’re required by law to buy insurance.”

Only about 18% of Floridians have flood insurance. That leaves the vast majority of residents, including Vacante, 51, left to pay out of pocket if their homes get drenched in a hurricane.

In Lutz, Kailey Tencza, 26, watched as children sped their bikes through giant puddles on her street, creating wakes as they passed.

Her home backs up onto a pond that is supposed to drain into Lake Park, part of the Hillsborough County public parks system.

Hurricane Milton brought the pond over the family’s backyard fence — “we had a fish and a gator in our backyard” — while also pushing water from the street drainage system into her driveway.

As storms become more intense from rising tides and warming waters, governments will need to mitigate widespread flooding, said Sunny Simpkins, executive director for the National Association of Flood and Stormwater Management Agencies.

Outdated drainage systems coupled with booming new construction have left many communities playing catch up.

“When all the infrastructure was put in, we didn’t have as much developed land,” Simpkins said. “So now there’s nowhere right now for the water to drain or permeate.”

Historically, developers have built over wetlands, mangroves and other parts of Florida’s environment that naturally protect from flooding, said Maria Watson, an assistant professor in the M.E. Rinker, Sr. School of Construction Management at the University of Florida.

But moving forward, builders have an opportunity to create more resilient neighborhoods by preserving the wetlands that are left and installing green infrastructure.

Watson pointed to the Babcock Ranch planned community near Punta Gorda as an example.

Though Hurricane Ian decimated much of Charlotte County, innovative features such as drainage systems that mimic the natural landscape, oversized retention ponds and ultra-absorbent pavement left Babcock Ranch mostly unscathed.

For existing neighborhoods, solutions can be harder to come by. Completing these kinds of upgrades will require political will and capital.

But if governments aren’t proactive, they may end up spending more money down the line trying to rebuild neighborhoods that were once a low flood risk, said Watson.

“After storms like this, we have an opportunity to create stronger building codes, elevate structures and do the things we need to do to keep this from happening again,” she said.

Debra Hall, Tencza’s neighbor four houses down, complained to Hillsborough County about the flooding problem in her Lutz neighborhood before. Someone from the county came to look, she said while picking twigs and branches from her yard after Milton, but local officials didn’t offer relief.

“This is the highest it’s ever been,” Hall said, pointing to the rising water level in her backyard. She’s lived in the neighborhood since 1990.

Hall wonders if the flooding is here to stay now. She worries about regularly being unable to drive home.

“It’s cut off by water that wasn’t supposed to be there,” she said.

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