TAMPA, Fla. — The City of Tampa recently announced plans to keep storm drains clear as heavy rainfall continues to barrel through the Bay area.
Tampa is seeing increased numbers of short, but intense rainfall dumping as much as 3-5 inches of water in only an hour or so, city leaders said in a news release. The most recent instances of these events happened on Aug. 15 and Sept. 4 respectively.
In fact, on Sept. 4, Tampa saw over five inches of rainfall between 6 and 7 p.m. near Robles Park, according to city gauges.
Officials added that this August, Tampa saw 17.78 inches of rain, which is nearly nine inches above the city's average rainfall for that month.
All of these factors pose a problem to Tampa's low-lying areas with old stormwater systems, according to city leaders.
Many of Tampa's old stormwater systems were reportedly not designed to drain extreme storms in an instant. On a typical day, it takes the city's system 2-3 hours to drain and no stormwater system to date has been designed to handle up to 5 inches of rain in an hour like on Sept. 4, city leaders said.
What is the city's plan?
City officials said they are in the varying stages of the planning, design and construction of improving and adding additional stormwater infrastructure in critical areas of Tampa. Some of these projects reportedly include,
The city also mentioned that these projects cost millions of dollars to develop, so residents likely won't see drastic improvements overnight.
In the meantime, Tampa city leaders say citizens should follow these steps when experiencing heavy rain.
- Avoid driving through flooded roads.
- Use patience and caution when driving during intense storms.
- Refrain from putting grass clippings and debris in storm drains and ditches, as it can worsen flooding.
- Frequent Tampa.gov/FloodMap to see where street flooding is occurring in real-time, and report flooding to the City of Tampa by calling 813-274-3101.
