ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — St. Petersburg officials say there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to the city’s flooding problems, a key takeaway from a public meeting that wrapped up nine recent walking tours of neighborhoods hit hard during last year’s hurricane season.
The city, working alongside engineers from Jacobs Engineering as part of its broader resiliency planning, found that each affected neighborhood faces its own set of challenges.
From storm surge to heavy rainfall to unique geographic features, every community requires a different approach.
What You Need To Know
St. Pete’s Resiliency Action Plan was discussed last night at a public forum, targeting 9 specific neighborhoods that saw flooding during last years hurricane season
City leaders, working alongside Jacob’s Engineering and The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council detailed challenges in each neighborhood and proposed solutions
Data collected during the study will be factored in to long-term proejcts already udnerway, including the seawall study, the stormwater master plan and SPAR
For more information on the resiliency plan, visit here
The neighborhoods studied include Old Pasadena, Kingston Street, Shore Acres, Bartlett Park, Bonita Bayou, Coquina Key, Harbordale, Childs Park, and Riviera Bay.
Mayor Ken Welch said the data collected, along with extensive resident feedback, will directly influence upcoming resiliency and infrastructure projects.
“It’s important that we are going to use this data to inform projects that are going forward,” Welch said. “The stormwater master plan, the St. Pete Agile Resilience Plan—or SPAR, that you’ll hear about for the rest of the year—and the seawall study, among other long-term adaptation strategies already underway.”
One of the meeting’s highlights was the city’s new interactive map.
It not only outlines findings from each neighborhood but also includes resident reports describing what they experienced during the storms. The tool details proposed projects for every community reviewed during the tours.
City leaders say some neighborhoods—such as Shore Acres—have long been known for flooding issues.
But others, rarely affected in the past, experienced unexpected problems during last year’s hurricanes. That’s part of why officials launched this deeper investigation, to understand what went wrong and determine what can be done to prevent similar events in the future.