MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — Help may soon be on the way for homeowners in a flood-prone subdivision in south Manatee County.
- Study on how to fix Centre Lake flood issues took more than 2 years
- Best solution study offered was surrounding neighborhood with flood wall
- More Manatee County stories
An unnamed and unexpected storm in August 2017 dumped more than 13 inches of rain on the Centre Lakes neighborhood in less than a three-day period. Many of the homes flooded so badly that state emergency management officials toured the area in the following days, and residents were out tens of thousands of dollars in damages.
While some residents moved out of the 16-acre subdivision, others stayed and repaired their homes. For longtime resident Steven Kane, he hasn’t had the ability to do either.
“I did not see a dry eye for three days,” he said.
Kane has been fighting an ongoing battle with water damage and mold stemming from that storm. He said for days there were inches of water throughout his home at times reaching his knees.
“We’ve become a drainage basin,” he said.
While there is no simple fix, county staff members believe they may have the answer to the neighborhood’s flood problem.
The county, along with contracted consultant CDM Smith, just finished up a more than two-year study focused on fixing the issues at Centre Lake. Of the 14 possible projects that the team investigated, they believe the best option would be to build a 4-foot-high flood wall around the subdivision while elevating the road that leads into the neighborhood.
“It would definitely be the first of its kind in Manatee County, at this scale,” said Kenneth Kohn, a project engineer for Manatee County.
While county staff has not made official recommendations regarding a possible flood wall, they are perusing options for funding. They have applied for cooperative funding agreements in hopes of obtaining the money needed for the wall project.