ST LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 Flooding has long plagued residents of St. Lucie County, but local officials say help is on the horizon. During a virtual public meeting Wednesday night, county leaders unveiled an updated Stormwater Master Plan aimed at addressing the region\u2019s most flood-prone areas.<\/p>\n
From stalled vehicles and soggy lawns to knee-deep water in residential streets, flooding has become a familiar\u2014and frustrating\u2014reality for many. Valerie Slack, a longtime resident of White City, shared her experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the 23 years that I\u2019ve lived in White City on the river, we\u2019ve had the river come up well into our property and in fact go over the street into the neighbors across the way,\u201d Slack said.<\/p>\n
See Also: More naked arrests north of nude beach in St. Lucie Co. spark increased patrols<\/a><\/p>\n The new master plan maps out every drain, ditch, and culvert across the county, identifying areas most vulnerable to flooding and proposing sustainable solutions to manage stormwater runoff before it becomes a disaster.<\/p>\n Patrick Dayan, Public Works Director for St. Lucie County, explained the challenges.<\/p>\n \u201cAreas may have issues with an undersized pipe. They may have issues based on future growth where today\u2019s land use might be adequate for that infrastructure to handle the runoff,\u201d Dayan said.<\/p>\n Focus areas include Northeast County, Upper Ten Mile Creek, and White City\u2014where Slack and many others have voiced concerns. A detailed map presented during the meeting highlights these priority zones.<\/p>\n Residents were invited to participate in the discussion and learn more about the county\u2019s approach. Slack appreciated the opportunity. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m grateful to be a part of the conversation. I always feel that the more people that are involved in designing something, the more points of view you get and the better ultimately the design will be,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n While construction projects like widening ditches, upgrading culverts, and building retention ponds are still years away, officials emphasized that planning is already underway. Implementation will be phased over two decades, with projects prioritized based on urgency and impact.<\/p>\n County leaders hope this long-term strategy will finally bring relief to residents and build a more resilient infrastructure for future generations.<\/p>\n Find more ways to stay up to date with your latest local news. Sign up for our newsletter<\/a> to get the day’s top headlines delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our YouTube channel<\/a> for the biggest stories and can’t miss video.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 Flooding has long plagued residents of St. Lucie County, but local officials…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":{"0":"post-27449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-port-st-lucie","9":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","10":"tag-port-st-lucie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}