Sarasota County inspecting stormwater system after significant flooding from Debby

SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — As some families work to begin the rebuilding of their flood-damaged homes in the Laurel Meadows neighborhood, county officials are working to get to the bottom of the significant flooding that took days to recede in the area.

Monday’s work focused on the two 48-inch drainage pipes that run under Palmer Boulevard and Lorraine Road.

“We have been all day working on draining the water out of the pipe to do inspections to see if there was anything we could find that contributed to the sum of the flooding that we experienced in this area,” Public Works Director Spencer Anderson said.

Anderson said there wasn’t “anything obvious” in the pipes when crews went through with a video camera, aside from silt at the end of each pipe, which was expected.

“We didn’t find any large debris or damage to the pipes that would have contributed to the overall flooding,” Anderson said.

So, where do things go from here?

“What we are going to do next is, we are doing a hydraulic analysis of the overall stormwater system to evaluate what we designed for, and then also the storm event that we had from Tropical Storm Debby. That will tell us, at least in a modeling environment with the rainfall that we experienced, what we would expect to see in a modeling environment that would affect the overall flooding of these neighborhoods and the Phillippi Creek basin as a whole,” the Public Works Director explained.

However, residents have expressed concerns about the unknown when it comes to another flood event in the future.

“Another big concern is, do we rebuild the house back to what it was before if we don’t have any questions answered as to is there going to be another flood,” Laurel Meadows homeowner Richard Spooner said. “We had almost the same amount of water with Ian that we did with Debby, yet we flooded with Debby. There are some answers that need to be given to us. We need some explanation of what happened for sure so we can make a sound decision going forward,” he continued.

“We are doing everything we can right now to evaluate what happened in this event and if there are things we can do to mitigate future flooding, that is exactly what the intent of our current exercise and effort is,” Anderson said.

Results from the broad analysis are expected in the next two to three months, according to the Public Works Director.

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