MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. — The city of Madeira Beach has been awarded a $100,000 matching grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to install backflow valves on storm drain pipes to prevent tidal flooding.

“We’ve been having some major high tides lately,” said Public Works director Megan Wepfer. “We have various locations throughout the island that will receive valves.”

Wepfer said officials have identified 13 low-lying locations across the city where the backflow valves will be installed, at a total cost of $200,000. The intersection at 140th Avenue and Bayshore Drive is one of those locations on the list.

Resident Marianne Harrison said she tries to avoid driving her car through the corrosive seawater.

“I either turn around or I try to find an alternate route. But there are several patches that do get pretty full,” she said. “So it’s tough, and I try to rinse my car off when I get home too.”

Vice Mayor Eddie McGeehen said he supports the project.

“We got a great, great grant for this project, and this is just going to help the residents,” he said. “It’s a win-win for the city, and we’re super excited about it.”

Wepfer presented the project to city commissioners during a workshop last week. Commissioner Housh Ghovaee said he was not in favor of the design and plans to vote against the project.

“I think they’ll impede on drainage, and I think the barnacles will grow,” he said. “It will be a maintenance nightmare. I just don’t like flapper valves.”

Wepfer said there are no alternatives available to address the tidal flooding problem and the devices are not fully a flapper valve because they have more of a cone shape.

“With this design that we’ve had in place since 2017, we don’t really have an issue with barnacle growth on these,” she said. “Which is why we are proceeding to move forward.”

Public Works does quarterly maintenance on the backflow valves currently installed in the city, according to Wepfer.

City commissioners are scheduled to vote on the project at their Aug. 12 meeting. McGeehen said he believes it will be approved. Harrison said she supports the project.

“I like that idea. I think that’s excellent,” she said. “I try not to go out when there’s a high tide.” 

The city listed the 13 locations where public works would like the backflow valves to be installed:

2nd Street and 154th Avenue
15336 and 15337 Harbor Drive
142nd Avenue and N. Bayshore Drive
141st Avenue Stormwater Station
140th Avenue E. and S. Bayshore Drive
14087 and 14089 N. Bayshore Drive
913 and 915 Bay Point Drive
876 Street End
803 and 805 Bay Point Drive
817 and 819 Bay Point Drive
708 and 710 Pruitt Drive
Island Drive outfall
113 140th Avenue E