City: Don’t blame construction for flash flood on SW Sixth

Gainesville Sun, The (FL)

July 18--Southwest Sixth Street, which runs through the Innovation District, experienced flash flooding just south of West University Avenue on Monday after heavy rains.

Videos on the social media site Reddit show a calf-high to waist-high stream of water surging through the roadway.

In photographs, taken around midday Monday, local businesses like Feathr and Fracture appeared to have been affected by the water.

Other photos, taken by Diane Twitchell of Feathr, showed cars with their wheels under water. The flooding caused water to rise above the bottom of Feathr's glass door.

Chuck Ellis, spokesman for Fracture, said Monday afternoon that water came into the building but it was "just enough to wet the floor."

"We are prepared for inclement weather," he said. "Everything is just fine."

Gainesville Police Department Officer Ben Tobias said GPD had only responded to one flooding call, which came from Southwest Second Avenue near Sharpspring, he said.

GPD cleared the call at about 2 p.m., he said.

City spokesman Chip Skinner said Tuesday that despite rumors, roadwork on Sixth Street hadn't caused or exacerbated the flooding.

Construction workers are working on the street's drainage system, but it would have flooded anyway, Skinner said, despite pre-construction flood prevention measures taken by Florida Safety Contractors, the roadwork's contractor.

Water pumps and erosion control measures taken were overwhelmed during the heavy rains, he said.

"The drainage system is not functioning completely at this time, but it wouldn't have mattered -- even if was complete," he said, noting heavy rains Monday. "It was just a perfect storm at the perfect time."

Skinner said Wednesday the city's public works department is going to help the contractor augment its stormwater pollution prevention plan so the flooding doesn't happen again.

He added that Florida Safety Contractors provided its insurance information to the owner of the building shared by Fracture and Feathr, with plans to help with any restoration processes.

Editor's note: Additional information was added to this report.

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