While homes did not get flooded, the streets were. And now residents are waiting for answers.
By Ramon Lopez
Original Air Date: August 14, 2024
Host: The historic flooding in Sarasota County last week prompted a lot of attention for one flooded subdivision in the east of the county, and flooded neighborhoods along the Phillippi Creek. Other communities did not have to cope with waist-deep water inside their homes. But their experiences could weigh even more in how home buying and building, and local politics will play out. Ramon Lopez has a close look at Calusa Lakes, where a nearby creek flipped the direction of its flow.
Ramon Lopez: The floodwater from the 100-year storm may now be gone, but frustration, outrage and questions remain for those homeowners who last week survived the historic 16-inch deluge from Tropical Storm Debby. While TV and radio news reports on what happened in the Bahia Vista and Philippi Creek areas flooded the airwaves, some other parts of Sarasota County were also inundated with up to two feet of murky standing rainwater.
Calusa Lakes, days after Debby. Photos: Lopez
Calusa Lakes is a typical Gulf Coast community of 575 houses with an 18 hole golf course. It’s in Nokomis, a small town between Osprey and Venice, just off Tamiami Trail. Fortunately, not all of those living there were marooned when torrential rainwater refused to drain out of the so-called North Trench into Fox Creek and other drainage tributaries outside of Calusa Lakes and along Honore Road and Interstate 75. The deluge, with nowhere to go, ran out of the trench and onto several main Calusa Lakes neighborhood streets. It isolated an estimated 150 homeowners on the northside, with up to two feet of water in low spots along the roads. Fortunately those residents did not lose power, air conditioning, landline and cell phone service. While those same community roads flooded in the past, they drained within 24 to 48 hours. This time the streets remained impassable for passenger vehicles for four days.
Last week, WSLR News spoke to Calusa Lakes Home Owners Association President Dick Krug about the cause of the ‘unnatural disaster’. Krug says both the Calusa Lakes HOA and the county are now searching for answers. Krug describes what happened.
Dick Krug: This particular storm, with the amount of rain we had, the entire system was overwhelmed, it couldn’t take the water. We got tangled up with all the water coming out of Fox Creek, underneath the Honore Bridge. And what had happened is, all the water was pushed back up the ditch, and it headed north, and then it came right back into Calusa Lake. So, we were getting water from the other side of 75.
RL: How bad did it get?
DK: Well, as far as I know, we had some areas that were over two feet deep. We’ve got a community that’s elderly and they need to be able to get out and get the doctors and stuff. This was a life safety situation over here. This was not good.
RL: About a half-dozen residents along the canal or ‘trench’ saw the floodwaters come within six feet of their lanais and living rooms. We hear from Donald DiPinto.
Donald DiPinto: I’m very unhappy about it and my understanding is, we received — from what the county said — 15 inches of rain. My understanding is these canals are built for 10 inches of rain in 24 hours. We need a plan in place with the county to change the system that we have because my understanding is that the canal or the north bank is running out into Fox Creek. And unfortunately there’s too much water running off into Fox Creek, probably from some of the new developments, I’m assuming. And this is why the water is getting backed up in the North Bank or into our canal.
I’d like to see something in place, whether the county has to get engineers to investigate this or what, but there definitely needs to be a change in the present system that we have. It may have been good for the 1990s, but it is no good now.
Well, moving to Florida, you do expect … there’s certain elements. We’re well aware of the weather and all, but we felt that this neighborhood … I never thought this would ever happen. If we keep getting a Category 5 Ian, and if I keep getting water coming over this embankment into my lanai, I would say my longevity would be short lived here.
RL: Krug spent time on the phone with the county’s storm water management.
DK: The county was really good. They got back to me and they answered my phone calls and the only answers they gave me is: time is going to be the only thing that takes care of this mess.
I think there’s too much development. There’s something going on the other side of 75 where we got so much water that we’ve never seen this kind of water before. I think there would have to be some engineering changes down at Fox Creek. I think if everybody got their heads together, I think we could do it. We could make our system better.
RL: He also spoke to Sarasota County Commissioner Joe Neunder who was sympathetic to the waterlogged resident’s plight. As residents point fingers, real estate developers deny that construction has exacerbated the issue. Golf balls are again being smacked in Calusa Lakes. But streets remained stained by the dark water, an indelible reminder of what happened.
This is Ramon Lopez for WSLR News.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.