PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Pinellas County is asking resident who have experienced flooding to complete a survey that could lead to millions in grant money to protect community assets.

“We need the public’s input in order to make this assessment successful,” said Lauren Wolf, Pinellas County Sustainability & Resiliency coordinator. “The vulnerability assessment will help us determine what kind of solutions we need.”

What You Need To Know

  • The flood impact survey could lead to millions in DEP grant money

  • Pinellas County wants to know which community assets to protect from flooding  

  • The grant money will help the county build permanent solutions to mitigate the growing flood threat 

  • The survey must be completed by July 31

The county will use the information to map locations at risk of flooding in the future during high tides, heavy rain and storm surge. Wolf said the impact survey asks residents about their personal experiences with flooding and what community assets they want protected.  

“Community assets can include things like the airport, hospitals, schools, parks,” she said. “We want to know what the community would like to see protected from future flooding.”

Wolf said it takes less than 10 minutes to complete the survey which is funded by Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection. The same agency which will award the grant money based on the sea level rise and storm surge vulnerability assessment.

“They are going to be releasing funds that will help us put together projects to address flooding,” she said. “The future flooding that we’re expecting and the current flooding that we’re already experiencing.”

The deadline to complete the survey is July 31. Wolf said so far 250 residents have taken the survey, which is more than halfway to her goal.

“We’re so grateful that folks are really chiming in with their input,” she said. “We would love to get at least 400 folks. As many as possible.”

Wolf said the county wants to build more permanent solutions to flooding with any grant money received.

“Pinellas County is constantly working to address flooding today. There are crews that will go out and maintain our storm water systems,” she said. “We’ve got several capital projects that are going on throughout the county and this assessment is going to help us do more of that in the future.”