TAMPA, Fla. — Right now, residents of a South Tampa neighborhood prone to flooding say the city needs to do more. With the rain we saw recently, main roads were left impassable.
The daily summer showers are just around the corner. The people who live off of Manhattan Avenue say they have to plan their day around that rain because the roads here flood so severely.
Earlier in the week, the streets were flooded at least halfway up to tires as cars tried to move through.
"Flooding is horrible overall. Whenever it rains any day, water just sits, especially on Manhattan, which is right over there," Anna Bakos said.
Bakos has been living in South Tampa for two years. If she had known how problematic the flooding was, she would have bought elsewhere.
"I hate leaving my house when it's pouring rain, although I have to do it," Bakos said. "I have to do it for school pickup and I dread doing it because I get nervous driving on the roads. I get nervous that I'm not going to be able to see that a car is going to come at me when they're going on the opposite side of the road."
Bakos said when the flooding is at its worst, Manhattan Avenue, which is a 4-lane road, becomes a 2-lane road.
In April, the city of Tampa received $1 million in federal funding to help pay for a new stormwater pipe in South Tampa.
People living in the area say previous projects did not provide enough relief.
"Well, I guess before the cars would frequently just get stalled out because it would be so high. And now there's a narrow strip in the middle where you can get through without flooding out," Carroll Ann Bennett said.
Bennett is a lifetime South Tampa resident. The flooding has prevented her from leaving her home for some days.
"Sometimes I won't go out when I need to because I know the streets are going to be flooded. And it's just not worth the damage," Bennett said.
While the city's website says construction for the 'Manhattan: Vasconia to Bay to Bay Flooding Relief' project is on hold, city officials say the website is inaccurate.
According to the city's transportation department, the project is not on hold. It's moving along well, with the design being finalized right now. The project will be put out for bid later this summer.
"It impacts everyone in South Tampa," Bakos said. "There are only so many main roads here. And this is a huge one that I live on the corner of."
The entire project costs $11 million. It includes a new stormwater pipe just under a mile long that will help drain water from the area faster.
For a list of all Tampa flooding projects currently underway, click here.
Malique Rankin is an Emmy award-winning general assignment reporter with 10 Tampa Bay. You can email her story ideas at mrankin@10tampabay.com and follow her Facebook, X, and Instagram pages.