South Tampa neighborhood worries about flooding

Yahoo

3 days ago

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — On Monday, Tampa experienced a brief but intense storm.
Max Defender 8 Meteorologist Amanda Holly said it's not that unusual for this time of year.
Cold case solved: High school teacher's killer identified as 16-year-old boy
'We clocked in between six and eight inches per hour of rain, which is extremely torrential rainfall, but it didn't rain for an entire hour,' Holly said. 'It was very quick. It moved through very quick.'
She pointed out that the total rainfall in that time was less than the per hour rate because the storm was brief.
Holly said the actual rainfall in Tampa was between 1.5 and 1.8 inches of rain.
Still, it was enough to flood streets in South Tampa, which are South of Gandy Boulevard.
'The street right here was completely covered in water in probably 15 minutes,' said Will Matz, who recorded video of the flooding in front of his home.
Matz said his neighborhood flooded during Hurricane Milton, and he's concerned that not enough is being done to maintain a ditch that is used for stormwater runoff near his home.
'Maybe they're overwhelmed, but I've seen them twice in about four years clean this thing out,' Matz said.
Graig Cleary lives nearby and is also concerned about street flooding.
'That canal sits at two to three feet of water, or bone dry for the most part, so to think that in the span of just 15 minutes, it completely overflowed, started coming up the street,' said Cleary.
He's also concerned that silt and vegetation are making the canal far less effective for stormwater runoff.
'We're all going through repairing our homes right now, do we want to keep repairing our homes, knowing that we are just at the beginning of hurricane season,' Cleary said.
He said he sees work being done in other areas of the city but not in his neighborhood.
'You drive down Bayshore, and you see a ton of construction,' Cleary said. 'Seems like they are working on the drainage over there, and there is a specific clientele that lives over there, probably a lot of donors, but for these communities who just flooded in September and in October, it's what is going to be done for us.'
A City of Tampa spokesperson issued a statement on Monday's storm and the flooding it caused.
We received 2.3 inches of rain in less than 30 minutes, which stormwater engineers characterize as nearly a 100-year event. That amount of rainfall so quickly is beyond the capacity of any stormwater system. The City of Tampa is investing many millions of dollars to enhance our stormwater systems and maintain them properly, and the flooding that occurred today dissipated in less than an hour. Unfortunately, we can expect to see rainfall like this throughout the summer, so motorists and residents should be patient and extra cautious when driving during and immediately after these intense showers.
Cleary said he just wants basic maintenance done on the canal near his home to prevent more flooding.
'What's the grand plan?' he said. 'I guess that's the question. Where is the notification of what is being done to save this neighborhood?'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.