Fort Lauderdale mayor to introduce plan to address stormwater infrastructure
MIAMI - Raymond Scott remembers all too well when his home and yard were flooded after 26 inches of rain fell last April in his Edgewood Neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale.
He was flooded out, like many of his neighbors. He was out of his home for 4 months and is finally back in.
"Ended up with 8 inches of water. Within half an hour all our floors were floating. And I was kind of in shock," he recalled.
Raymond said in nearly 30 years living here, he's never seen it like this. "Everything was destroyed. Also our furniture, all our bottom cabinets that we just remodeled a few years earlier all had to be torn out," he said.
"For so many years we have neglected our infrastructure, we have put bandaids on it," said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis.
In Wednesday night's State of the City Address, Mayor Trantalis plans to introduce the "Fortify Lauderdale" plan — it has elements that address stormwater infrastructure in 17 neighborhoods, including Edgewood.
"We're going to accelerate the programs in terms of stormwater, the drains, in terms of water and sewer in terms of all kinds of weather-related resiliency," he said.
The half-billion-dollar project also includes improvements to fight climate change like elevating sea walls and installing more tidal control valves. The mayor says grants should pay for much of it — but it will also include rate hikes. "We're hoping to get most of this done in the next 10 years and once and for all make are city the resilient city it needs to be going into the next century," Mayor Trantalis said.
For people who live in neighborhoods that flood, there's hope, but with big dose of skepticism.
"I don't have a lot of faith in it because I've listened to them talk a long time and nothing's gotten better. I'm just hoping that he'll do what he says," Raymond said.
Also, at the "State of the City" the Mayor will discuss things like commuter rail, adding police and fire, homeless outreach and affordable housing. It gets underway at 7 p.m. at The Parker.
