With flooding more common, New Smyrna reaches out for solutions

Jan. 22--NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- John Carpenter is just now repairing the damage to his Peninsula Drive home after Hurricane Irma sent Callalisa Creek flowing into his living room four months ago.

While a crew worked in a back room to lay new floors, Carpenter played a cellphone video showing the floodwater trickling in through a door jam.

"I sandbagged us in," Carpenter said. "I climbed in through a window. It was all just packed with sandbags -- but it didn't do any good."

As Irma tore through New Smyrna Beach, about 60 homes in the Central Beach district flooded that had never flooded before, including Carpenter's. City officials say about half of those homeowners have shown interest in federal grants that could allow the city to either purchase their homes or help the homeowners lift them off the ground.

A neighborhood meeting to discuss options for the Central Beach area has been set for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Coronado Civic Center, 223 Flagler Ave., said city engineer Kyle Fegley. "We want to see if we can get a response one way or the other from those who are on the fence about it."

The Central Beach district isn't the only neighborhood dealing with flooding in the city. The St. Johns River Water Management District has awarded the city $2.4 million to do stormwater improvements in the Isleboro subdivision off U.S. Highway 1 near the New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport, where flooding has occurred on more than one occasion over the past few years, including during Hurricane Matthew.

The Central Beach district had recently received $10 million in stormwater improvements, but those repairs were to handle rainfall, not Callalisa Creek topping its banks. However, engineers have recommended the city install valves to prevent future storm surges from flowing backward through the storm drainage system.

City Manager Pam Brangaccio said the flooding needs to be discussed with the residents, because despite the improvements it's becoming a regular occurrence.

"It doesn't necessarily have to be a hurricane event, it can be a nor'easter or a king tide," Brangaccio said. "We seem to be getting it more often."

Unprecedented flooding

Mayor Jim Hathaway couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the damage left by the powerful storm surge Hurricane Irma pushed into the Indian River.

"I've lived in New Smyrna Beach for 65 years and I'm telling you until Irma came in, I've never witnessed that kind of flooding," Hathaway said. The hurricane's arrival at high tide sent water levels in the river and Callalisa Creek surging several feet higher than normal -- flowing up over the banks, into homes and right up to the mayor's garage.

Hathaway and his neighbors in the city's Central Beach district were shocked.

The city never expected Callalisa Creek to "rise that much and come into people's homes," Brangaccio said.

In the weeks after the storm, Brangaccio said residents of the neighborhood asked what the city planned to do to protect them from future flooding.

The residents were told they have a couple of options: They could sell their homes to the city and abandon them, or they could petition the Federal Emergency Management Agency for money from a grant program that pays to raise homes to avoid losses for the National Flood Insurance Program.

"That's a message they weren't ready to hear," Brangaccio said.

The recurring flooding is one topic to be discussed by residents during the city's recently launched series of "Coastal Community Resiliency" workshops. The series will continue with 10 monthly meetings through November at the Brannon Civic Center. The next meeting -- on environmental and cultural resources -- takes place Feb. 20. Among the many topics to be addressed in the workshops are rising sea levels and recurring coastal flooding.

National Weather Service records show coastal flood events not related to hurricanes have increased exponentially in Florida over the past 20 years. New Smyrna Beach is one of dozens of Florida cities dealing with the rising sea levels and trying to prevent the rising water from flowing into stormwater drainage pipes. As seas continue to rise around the state, regional planning council officials say the problems will continue.

Rising waters

For FEMA, paying to have a home lifted out of harm's way saves more money than repeatedly rebuilding it and replacing its contents after floods.

The federal Flood Insurance Program has seen increased losses after disaster events since 2003. The program borrowed $17.5 billion from the U.S. Treasury to cover claims after the hurricanes of 2005, according to the Florida Sea Grant program based at the University of Florida. After Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the program borrowed another $6.25 billion to make the $8.4 billion in payouts after the storm. Billions more were paid in 2016 and 2017.

Hurricane Irma, on Sept. 10 and 11, flooded at least 32 rivers and creeks and caused around $7.2 billion in property damage claims as of Jan. 5, according to the Office of Insurance Regulation.

In New Smyrna Beach, Fegley said at least 37 homeowners in the district have expressed interest in learning more about FEMA's Flood Mitigation Assistance funds and Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. The city is waiting to hear from the state how much money might be available, he said. It's a competitive and lengthy process.

"Ormond Beach has homes that flooded. Volusia County has homes that flooded," Fegley said. "Everyone wants a piece of those funds from FEMA."

Carpenter is interested.

"Personally, I think if we were able to lift the house up, that would be awesome," he said.

While the Flood Mitigation Assistance program requires a house to flood at least twice before an applicant can be qualified, Fegley said the Hazard Mitigation funds are less restrictive.

It will likely be a two- to three-year process, Fegley said. "Unfortunately, we're going to have to go through a couple of hurricane seasons."

Carpenter intends to wait it out and attend the workshops if he can. Asked how long he plans to stay in the beachside community, he smiled. "Forever."

___

(c)2018 The News-Journal, Daytona Beach, Fla.

Visit The News-Journal, Daytona Beach, Fla. at www.news-journalonline.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.