{"id":430014,"date":"2026-10-17T00:20:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T00:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/430014\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T00:20:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T00:20:23","slug":"port-st-lucie-tests-new-water-sensors-as-weekend-rain-threatens-flood-prone-areas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/430014\/","title":{"rendered":"Port St. Lucie tests new water sensors as weekend rain threatens flood-prone areas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">More rain is <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wptv.com\/weather\/forecast-cold-front-to-bring-storms-flooding-risk-and-rough-beach-conditions-this-weekend\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">expected this weekend<\/a> across South Florida and the Treasure Coast, and WPTV is learning that Port St. Lucie Public Works is preparing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Scott Samples, communications manager with the City of Port St. Lucie, said crews spent the week clearing debris from drains and grates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">WATCH BELOW: Port St. Lucie prepares for rain, flooding concerns<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Samples added that water levels in retention ponds and canals are at an adequate level and won&#8217;t need to be lowered.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Staff have also been testing their new pilot water sensors, which will send alerts to select staff if water levels rise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">&#8220;It&#8217;s a way for us to respond faster to very specific locations,&#8221; Samples said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Jennifer Collins, owner of Pets Play Grooming off California and Savona boulevards, said her staff is preparing too.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">&#8220;We&#8217;re nervous about this storm coming up this week,&#8221; Collins said. &#8220;Every time it rains, we get scared.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Collins is no stranger to flooding on California and Savona boulevards. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">She said flooding has occurred there for years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">WPTV was there when water levels rose at the intersection <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wptv.com\/news\/local-news\/our-community\/port-st-lucie\/port-st-lucie-intersection-floods-so-badly-a-pizza-shop-lost-thousands-city-says-fix-will-take-time\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">last week.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Collins said she already sent messages to her customers for Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">&#8220;We may have to reschedule their dogs. We may have to push them off to next week,&#8221; Collins said. &#8220;Saturdays are one of our busiest days, so it does really affect us as a small business.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">For long-term solutions at the intersection, the city is working on a large-scale drainage project for the Oak Hammock neighborhood, which includes raising portions of the roadway.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">&#8220;When this project is completed, those problems won&#8217;t be problems anymore,&#8221; Samples said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The drainage project is still in data collection before moving on to design.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">&#8220;We can&#8217;t work if it&#8217;s raining, and that&#8217;s in Florida,&#8221; Collins said. &#8220;That&#8217;s just not OK.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The project may take years until completion, but Collins said she already thought about moving her business.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">&#8220;We&#8217;ve also talked about possibly moving, and you know that would be hard too,&#8221; Collins said. &#8220;I just feel like it&#8217;s not, not getting better.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More rain is expected this weekend across South Florida and the Treasure Coast, and WPTV is learning that&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[168529,171,173,172,146526],"class_list":["post-430014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-cordes","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news","tag-walter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430014","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=430014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}