ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFTS) — The City of St. Petersburg is working to address flooding concerns in Shore Acres.
Workers spent Wednesday morning installing yet another upgraded backflow preventer in the neighborhood.
"It's a different design. So instead of being a duck bill, it's an actual cone. And that cone head doesn't have the challenge that the duckbill has in terms of things being able to get stuck underneath it, or being able to be stuck open. And so we believe that that new design will be watertight for longer," said Public Works Administrator Claude Tankersley.
So far, four have been installed. By mid-August, the city hopes to have all 56 upgraded ones in and working.
"Over time, the materials tend to deteriorate. And the constant action of it opening and closing, it can weaken. And so eventually, it lost its ability to hold back the water. It created small openings that allowed water to trickle in. But that water trickling in over time can back up into the system," he further explained.
This project alone costs about $3.5 million. Overall, there's about $50 million in projects in the works to help the neighborhood.
"They've been through a lot. They've suffered a lot. And we see that and we're empathetic to it," he added.
The neighborhood is prone to flooding, even during a thunderstorm. Shores Acres Civic Association President Kevin Batdorf says it wasn't until Hurricane Idalia that they decided to sound the alarm.
"After Idalia, you can imagine the neighbors in Shore Acres were not real happy. We realized that the city had not been maintaining the drainage system for many years. I don't know that they realized that they weren't maintaining the system as well as they should. Once we brought that to light. They looked into it. They were proactive. We've had discussions with them. We met with the Mayor, we've gone to the listening session. They actually listened. And we made it clear that we're also listening and paying attention," Batdorf said.
He was there Wednesday morning as those workers brought out the old, and put the new into one drainage area.
"This is exciting. We're happy to see progress in any form," he said.
However, the back flow preventers alone aren't enough to keep up with the types of flooding the neighborhood is accustomed to.
"These new models, when we've tested them, they've been watertight. And as long as they're able to hold back the water and the water is not coming over the seawall," Tankersley explains. "I need to make that clear. If the water's coming over the seawall, these things aren't effective. But as long as the water is not coming over the seawall then they should work."
Other forms of progress include an incoming new pump station that will be able to pump 100,000 gallons every minute. Another project plans to put larger drains into the neighborhood.
"When we're out here working on it, they want to know what we're doing. They asked the questions, and we're happy to explain to them what's going on. And usually the response is, 'Thank you. Good work. Can't wait till you do more of those kinds of things,'" said Tankersley.
The other projects will take more than a year to complete.
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