ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Longtime Shore Acres resident Eric Lanctot, 49, said for the first time in decades he did not see standing water on his street after a heavy rainstorm thanks to a temporary pump which St. Petersburg public works deployed earlier this month.
“That was a first for me to see that theory, that application, work,” he said. “It kept the three intersections that were on the that storm line dry.”
For the past 21 years, Lanctot has lived in a home at the entrance of Ponderosa Shores located at the intersection of 54th Avenue NE and Denver Street NE. The commercial general contractor said on June 11, while driving home after a heavy rain storm he was surprised to see 54th Avenue NE was dry.
“My intersection was dry and that is unusual,” he said. “I pulled in my driveway and backed out because I just didn’t understand why the intersection was dry. I drove down the street and I noticed the intersection to the east was also dry.”
Lanctot said 54th Avenue NE, which turns into North Dakota Avenue NE, was dry all the way east until it dead ends at Dover Street NE, where he saw a temporary pump set up by public works.
“It was pumping water out of the inlet… and it was discharging on the canal side of the backflow preventer,” he said. “For the first time, in a long time, I’m seeing some positive steps in the right direction.”
Public works administrator Claude Tankersley said earlier this year the city began experimenting with 5 portable trailer-mounted pumps to find locations for optimum efficiency and effectiveness.
“It takes pre-planning to deploy the pumps,” he stated. “Therefore, we can only deploy them if we have advanced warning of impending heavy rain.”
The pumps are intended to reduce rainfall-derived flooding, not tidal or sunny day flooding and would not be effective against a storm that dumps more than seven inches of water, according to Tankersley. So far this year, the temporary pumps have been deployed 3 times on January 9, April 11 and June 11.
“They can only be deployed in the street in front of a home,” stated Tankersley. “Therefore, we acknowledge that they are unattractive and may be noisy for a short period of time. However, we believe their benefits will justify the inconvenience.”
Lanctot said the temporary fix gives residents who live in the lowest lying neighborhood in the city some hope and he called public works to give them his feedback.
“They were thrilled to hear from me. They appreciated it,” he said. “This isn’t the final solution by any means but it is letting the people that are trying know that that particular thing that they tried worked.”
Tankersley said it’s still an experiment to see if the process will work and he appreciated the feedback from residents.
“We are pleased to hear that our residents see benefits from this experimental program,” he stated. “We hope it will lead to a permanent program once we iron out all the kinks.”
In March, the St. Petersburg city council approved a $7.8 million grant that will cover half the cost of a permanent stormwater pump which public works hopes to install in Shore Acres by 2026.