Crews begin drainage work to prevent future flooding in Fort Lauderdale
MIAMI - Heavy equipment is digging up the road right in front of Latonya Frost's Fort Lauderdale home in the Durrs neighborhood— and she couldn't be happier. She's hoping it will stop her place from flooding.
"We couldn't open the door, we had to get out through the window," she recalled talking about the record flooding in April of 2023. It flooded Latonya's family out of their home for two weeks and left their house a soggy mess.
"What kind of things did you lose?" CBS Miami's Ted Scouten asked. "Couches, rugs, material things like speakers, clothing shoes," she said.
Dorothy Jackson lives nearby. She got water in her home too.
"I would say it came to here," she said pointing to a spot about 6 inches up the wall.
Crews in Durrs are laying 6 and a half miles of pipe here and another mile and a half in neighboring Dorsey Riverbend. The goal is to stop flooding when there are heavy rains, taking climate change into consideration.
"The majority of the stormwater system built in Fort Lauderdale today were designed for about 3 inches of rainfall. All of these new neighborhoods we're going stormwater improvement the goal is 10-inch rainfall in a 24-hour period."
Fort Lauderdale's Asst. Public Works Director Dr. Nancy Gassman explains this is part of a bigger project to upgrade stormwater systems.
Phase one includes 8 neighborhoods, all South of Sunrise Blvd. These should be complete by 2027.
Planning is already underway for phase 2. That's 17 more neighborhoods with completion expected by 2034.
For now, people here are just hoping with the next big rain their homes will stay dry on the inside.
"We are so happy, so happy that it started," said Dorothy Jackson.
The whole Phase One Project will cost just under $300 million. Construction in Durrs and Dorsey Riverbend should be complete in 2026.