The St. Petersburg City Council received, as one administrator put it, a flood of information today about efforts to improve environmental sustainability and the growing flooding problem.
The four-hour-plus full committee meeting also included a brief presentation of the highly anticipated Resilient St. Pete Action Plan. Council member Brandi Gabbard requested the extensive updates following recent discussions with congressional leaders and torrential rains that flooded much of the city in early September.
“As a representative of a coastal district, I personally know the pain, frustration and hopelessness that our residents have felt and burdened over the past few years,” Gabbard said. “It is my desire that we leave our residents with a message of hope at the end of this meeting.”
Dr. Gary Mitchum, associate dean of the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida, opened the marathon meeting by explaining that warmer, less dense water is causing sea levels to rise as it takes up more space and melts the polar ice caps.
Mitchum expects the number of floods to increase tenfold by the mid-2030s, to nearly 70 days a year. “The water is not getting into homes, but it is water that is making roads impassable,” he said. “It’s a serious infrastructure problem that comes with a lot of costs.”
Scientists expect the number of named storms to decrease as the climate warms. However, according to Mitchum, they expect the number of catastrophic Category 4 and 5 hurricanes to increase by 30 to 40 percent.
City studies show that 668 homes were flooded by Hurricane Eta’s 3.5-foot storm surge, and 1,535 homes were flooded by Hurricane Idalia’s 4.5-foot storm surge. The city spent $2.075 million on the latter storm, which passed hundreds of miles from St. Petersburg.
Mitchum said previous city leaders built St. Petersburg’s storm drains based on centuries of rainfall. “These more severe storms will just get stuck in the streets, and that’s what we’re seeing right now.”
Recent flooding in the parking garage of the Vinoy Resort & Golf Club. Screenshot, city documents.
Several council members would like to see a real-time reporting platform that notifies residents about flooded streets. Amber Boulding, the city’s emergency manager, said the “ebb and flow” of flooding presents a challenge.
She also noted that the city government identified this area as needing improvement. Mayor Ken Welch offered a possible technological solution.
Officials in Vancouver have created a digital twin of the city that shows residents where flooding is expected and which roads are still passable. “That’s still a long way off, but we agree that we’re going to try to get that real-time information out even when it’s not a named storm,” Welch said.
The city has replaced 39 of 65 tidal backflow preventers “slated for replacement” since late February. But as was emphasized throughout the meeting, complex problems have no easy answers.
Public Works Director Claude Tankersley explained that rainwater collects behind closed backflow preventers. While the valves prevent saltwater from entering, “some freshwater is sitting in the street, possibly in your yard, waiting for the tide to go out before the freshwater can drain away,” he said.
Since a community meeting in February, the city has inspected 1,373 storm sewers, with four recently added teams supporting the effort.
Tankersley said the city has between 15,000 and 18,000 catch basins and is prioritizing problem systems. City officials will soon proactively identify clogged drains through surveillance cameras.
A storm drain filled with debris in west St. Pete after torrential rains flooded the neighborhood.
Funding remains a significant hurdle, and relatively smaller storms cost the city millions. City documents show that Hurricane Ian, with a 4.65-foot storm surge and no reported flooding, cost the city $5.14 million.
Councilwoman Lissette Hanewicz noted that the city council has allocated $22 million for stormwater projects in the upcoming budget, which will cost about $1 billion by 2050.
Tankersley explained that city staff and outside contractors lack the capacity to complete these projects quickly, even if appropriate funding, including from state and federal sources, were available.
Hanewicz emphasized that the city spends less than half the annual cost to complete stormwater projects. At a committee meeting in late July, Tankersley said officials “should be spending $50 million a year” to complete $1 billion worth of stormwater projects over the next 20 years.
Those costs don’t take into account projects identified in an upcoming study of seawall threats. “We’re going to have to raise utility rates,” Hanewicz said. “If there’s no money coming in, how are we going to pay for it?”
The meeting concluded with a brief update on the Resilient St. Pete Action Plan. The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council (TBRPC) will focus the first phase of the initiative on low-lying neighborhoods identified by city officials.
Cara Serra, resilience director at TBRPC, said the organization identifies gaps and areas that could be improved in previous city plans, and community engagement is a critical component.
Serra said the TBRPC will evaluate resilience projects that align with the city and borough’s goals. Gabbard promised the initiative will grow over time.
“I want to be innovative,” Welch said. “I want to work hand in hand with the council to plan our improvements much more aggressively and implement them as soon as possible – because those effects are already being felt.”
Despite a nearly 4.5-hour meeting, the Council postponed some presentations until October 24.
