South Florida escapes Florence-like wrath thanks to our flood control district

I have been watching media accounts of the devastation and record flooding taking place in the Carolinas with a heavy heart this past week. While I was born and raised in South Florida and am proud to serve as a State Representative, I graduated from Clemson University in South Carolina and lived in eastern North Carolina and have an affection for the Carolinas.

While no system could withstand the type of record rainfall in a short period of time seen this past week with Hurricane Florence without some negative impacts, seeing what has happened in the Carolinas makes me thankful that we in this region have the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) working hard to protect us from flooding.

The South Florida Water Management District, originally named the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District, was established by the Florida Legislature in 1949 in response to unprecedented flooding from several hurricanes. Homes and businesses were being flooded and lives were being lost and the Legislature stepped up to protect them. The agency protects 8.1 million residents and 18,000 square miles in 16 counties, utilizing a regional flood control system that includes approximately 2,100 miles of canals and 2,000 miles of levees and berms.

The SFWMD works with local drainage districts, municipalities and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during Florida’s wet season, when the region typically receives about 70 percent of the yearly average of rainfall (50 inches), to move water away from communities to protect families and businesses. The District also works during the dry season to ensure adequate water supply and prepare the regional flood control system for the wet season.

In addition to maintaining and upgrading water control structures, SFWMD also works to maintain the canals that move floodwaters away from communities. This year, the District has completed 16 hazardous tree or debris removal projects along 13 canals or levees to make sure trees and debris don’t block the canals and make flooding worse after storms. The District has removed more than 16,000 cubic yards of debris from its entire system this year. These actions may seem mundane but they make the difference when a storm hits.

This wet season, SFWMD has been working around the clock to lower water levels in the Water Conservation Areas and Lake Okeechobee caused by record May rainfall and Tropical Storm Gordon in August. SFWMD has utilized every available structure and added several temporary pumps to move hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water out of the conservation areas in order to create capacity to send water from Lake Okeechobee south, all while protecting communities from flooding.

What we have seen in the wake of Florence should remind everyone on why we need a flood control district and the real cost, in terms of lives lost and destroyed, that we could all stand to lose if we didn’t have SFWMD working for us.