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TAKE A SHORT SURVEY TO TELL US WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT STORM WATER DRAINAGE SYSTEMS. (This survey is now closed. Please take one of our other online surveys regarding: Customer Satisfaction with Public Safety Services or Parks & Community Centers.)
On April 29, Escambia County residents learned a lesson in the importance of investing in storm water drainage systems when a historic rainfall soaked the County with more then 25 inches of rain in 24 hours, including almost six inches inches of rain in a single hour between 9 and 10 p.m. The extensive flooding was made worse by weeks of heavy rainfall the month before April 29 that saturated the ground and raised the water table to just below the surface in some areas of the County. Rainfall totals for April shattered records with Escambia County taking on 17 inches of water above an average April. The widespread flooding produced sinkholes, washed out roads and trapped families in the rising waters. One person died in the storm and scores more were rescued from flooding homes.
VIDEO - Local Option Sales Tax: Drainage
See a map of flood damaged areas from the April 29 storm.
In the aftermath of the storm, residents cleaned up and began to rebuild; experts came to survey the area and advise us how to improve and all around the County people asked what we could do to prevent this from happening again.
The truth is we probably could not have prevented water from flooding private property during the April 2014 rain. In fact, the magnitude of this storm categorizes it as a 500-year flood. The reality is that local government simply cannot afford to build a storm water system that can withstand that much water flowing into our systems during such a short period of time.
If we look back to the 100-year flood that occurred in June 2012, when more than 13 inches of rain fell in a single day, it’s easy to see how differently our systems fared. Streets turned into rivers then, too, but far fewer homes and businesses were breached. That’s because Escambia County’s storm water systems are designed to withstand a 100-year flood event by diverting water from overflowing retention ponds and storm sewers, carrying it down drainage ditches and roads into open bodies of water. This purposeful redirection of flowing water protects private property. Thanks in part to more than $45 million of Local Option Sales Tax funds invested into improving our storm water infrastructure since 2006, the only thing most of us would need to weather a 25-year flood is an umbrella.
How did Escambia County have a 100-year flood and a 500-year flood two years apart? The terms "100-year flood" and "500-year flood" are terms used to attempt to simplify the definition of a flood that statistically has a 1 percent chance and a .2 percent chance of occurring in any given year, not a flood that occurs once every 100 years or once every 500 years.
Article: Does a 100-year storm always create a 100-year flood?
In a recent online survey by Escambia County, respondents overwhelmingly identified storm water drainage improvement projects as the number one priority for Local Option Sales Tax fund expenditures. County staff has spent the last couple of months reprioritizing current funds to focus how to repair and enhance the various systems that keep homes and businesses high and dry. Over the next three years, Escambia County will spend an additional $17 million adding retention ponds, shoring up earthen dams and installing underground pipes in neighborhoods throughout the County.
If the fourth round of Local Option Sales Tax moves forward, the County will continue mid- and long range planning to keep our existing systems operating at peak levels and building additional systems in neighborhoods that need help to stay above water. However, we need your help to determine what kind of improvements you’d like to see in your neighborhood. Please plan to join us at an upcoming public meeting to discuss future projects or take our online survey to let us know where you want Escambia County to be in 2028.
Upcoming Meeting Schedule:
Additional public meetings will be held through November, with the dates to be announced on this web site, posted to the MyEscambia.com calendar.
For more information, visit MyEscambia.com/community/lost, follow @EscambiaLOST on Twitter for forthcoming information and email [email protected].
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