Floods, washed-out roads plague west areas
Wellington has seen 14 inches of rain in May, with 12 just last week.
THE ACREAGE — Overflowing swales. Backyards turned into ponds. Two roads washed out into nearby canals.
These are some of the effects of a week’s worth of wet weather on the western communities as officials and homeowners brace for rain this week and another potential weekend of torrential rain.
Wellington has seen 14 inches of rain already in May, with 12 of those inches falling just last week, village manager Paul Schofield said. “It’s wetter than anything we’ve seen since Tropical Storm Isaac,” he said, citing the slow-moving 2012 system that dropped more than a dozen inches of rain on Wellington in about 48 hours.
In Loxahatchee Groves, the troubled B Road north of Okeechobee Boulevard washed into a nearby canal, making it nearly impossible for cars to use. A road also washed out on the south end of Wellington, prompting late-night emergency repairs.
And in The Acreage, residents struggled with water pooled on their properties, a perpetual issue
whenever the area gets hit with heavy rainfall.
With the South Florida Water Management District forecasting only about an inch of rain per day today and Wednesday, Schofield is hopeful much of the standing water in Wellington will have time to drain. The worst-hit areas seem to be the south end of the Equestrian Preserve and a few areas in Aero Club, he said.
The normal level for Wellington’s canals is 12 feet, but areas on the south side of the village are seeing 14.5 feet, while places in the “core” of Wellington are near 13.5 feet, Schofield said.
At the far south end of the village, 60th Street washed out into a nearby canal thanks to a collapsing drainage pipe in front of a home, he said. The road was filled overnight and was scheduled to be fixed by late Monday.
All pumping stations in Wellington are open and have been since the weekend of May 12, Schofield said, adding that the village is dumping only the amount of water its permit allows. “They are draining as rapidly as they can drain,” he said.
Wellington sends its water into the C-51 Canal that runs along the south side of Southern from the Glades to the Intracoastal Waterway. In addition, the village is pumping at capacity into Section 24, better known as the Wellington Environmental Preserve.
In Loxahatchee Groves, water continues to flow from its canals to the C-51 through the town’s gravity-driven, automated drainage system, Loxahatchee Groves Water Control District manager Stephen Yohe said. The system opens drains when canal levels reach above 2 feet, then closes them when the canal falls back below 2 feet.
That process “started in earnest” May 11, Yohe said.
Many residents have water pooling on their properties, he said, with some septic tank issues reported. “When the water level is raised, their septic tanks don’t function as they should,” Yohe said.
Loxahatchee Groves Mayor Dave Browning said Monday afternoon that contractor MJC Land Development had repaired the washout on B Road, with more work scheduled to get rid of massive pools of standing water on the roadway. “We’re kind of dodging the rain,” he said.
With the torrential storms that hit the town last weekend, the canal bank on the west side of B Road gave way — one of the many issues that can happen with a dirt road, Browning said. The town is moving forward with installing seven catch-basins along B Road north of Okeechobee Boulevard, he added, but “temporarily, all we can do is fill it.”
In The Acreage, residents took to social media to report flooding in their yards — a persistent problem in the rural community. Administrators for the Indian Trail Improvement District, which maintains roads and drainage in The Acreage, responded to some comments on Facebook, saying pumps have been open and the district is releasing as much water as its permit allows.
Royal Palm Beach’s drainage system has handled the deluge well, with no reports of flooding in homes or on roads, village manager Ray Liggins said. “We have a very good drainage system and we do keep it well-maintained,” he said.
Royal Palm received between 3 and 5 inches of rain Saturday and about 2 inches Sunday, village engineer Chris Marsh said.