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County Administrator Avoids Dike Breach Question

Written by on Saturday, November 9, 2024

Jonathan Lewis instead attacks news coverage.


By Johannes Werner

Original Air Date: November 9, 2024

Host: A hydrologist points his finger at a dike breach as the reason for unexpected flooding during Tropical Storm Debby. One county official responded this week. Actually, he evaded the question, and we have a report.

Johannes Werner: The Laurel Meadows neighborhood — a fairly new subdivision near the Celery Fields in east Sarasota County — flooded during Tropical Storm Debby, much to the residents’ surprise. In a study commissioned by Sarasota County, hydrologist and former county stormwater management engineer Steve Suau points to a possible culprit: A breach in a nearby dike separating the Phillippi Creek watershed from the Cowpen Slough.

In January, the Sarasota County Commission will discuss stormwater management, in light of the historic flooding experienced during Debby. This week, County Administrator Jonathan Lewis became the first county official to publicly respond to Suau’s findings since he presented them to the public.

At a meeting of the City Coalition of Neighborhood Associations on Saturday, Lewis gave updates about several county projects to the Coalition of City Neighborhood Associations.

Everything went smoothly, until he was asked about the breach in the Cowpen Slough dike.

Instead of responding to the question about the dike, Lewis went off on a tangent, attacking a recent Sarasota Herald-Tribune column on the issue as inaccurate.

Audience Member: Just to follow up on the Philippi Creek question … It’s my understanding from a presentation I saw from Steven Suau that there was a breach in the dike.

Jonathan Lewis

Jonathan Lewis: Yeah, but everybody has to watch the whole presentation, because that’s actually not true.

AM: I was at the presentation. 

JL: Yeah, so, the details matter. We actually tried to hire Mr. Suau. We’re at the point of P. O. Because most of our stormwater system was actually designed by him because he was the county—

AM: Right, but my question—

JL: I just … the way the newspaper has portrayed this information in terms of editorial is a little annoying.  What ended up on the Philippi Creek and what happened in the Celery Fields has nothing to relate it, because it’s in a different slough than where the breach was south of Rothenberg Park. That has to do with why Laurel Meadows was impacted. But it doesn’t have to do — the water was going to go where the water was going to go anyway. What he talked about is that maybe in the projections, that what ended up on Philippi Creek, even though all the models said it would have about a foot more water, the reality is it was a foot less water. So yeah, theoretically you could have lowered a gate and maybe a foot more would have gone through. But we don’t do that as a matter of practice because we don’t want to flood Phillippi Creek any more than we have to. So we do, by practice and policy, hold back the water at that gate. But the way that water coming in from where the breach on Cal Penn Slough was,  doesn’t touch what was there.

JW: When the same audience member asked what the county intends to do to prevent future flooding, the man running the CCNA meeting shut down any further discussion.

AM: My only question was, are you planning to increase the inspections of these various—

JL: We have to move on. We have to. Thank you, Scott. Scott. 

JW: Lewis offered the audience to email him any questions.

Some of the 84 flooded Laurel Meadows homeowners have sought legal help. A lawsuit against the county is expected.

Johannes Werner, reporting for WSLR News in Sarasota.

 

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