JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With storm season ramping up, San Marco neighbors are bracing for excessive flooding. It’s not something new in the neighborhood. Residents have dealt with problematic flooding for generations.
This past weekend brought flooding where several neighbors told News4JAX the water came up to their front doors and even some businesses.
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Frank Hamilton experienced it firsthand.
“The water was deep as heck,” Hamilton said. “I obviously didn’t go out because I didn’t want to get my car stalled in water. So, I just had to kind of wait it out until the water went down.”
Stories like this are why neighbors are ready for the LaSalle Street pumping station to be up and running.
According to the city of Jacksonville, the newly installed pump station is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2025. The construction work began in May 2023.
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Dan Harris has lived in San Marco for 25 years and currently lives at Riviera Street and Belmonte Avenue. He says although flooding is still an ongoing problem for him, it used to be worse.
“So back in the day when I first bought, the water would stay on the road for four or five days, and it would smell like sewage,” Harris said. “Now, it’s more like a toilet bowl, that it fills up and then it takes three or four hours. And then when the pumps kick on, it does eventually go away.
The Director of Project Development with the Haskell Company, the Jacksonville-based construction company working on the project, told News4JAX last year the new pump station will help pump the excess water back into the St. Johns River.
“It will not eliminate all the flooding, it will significantly improve the conditions here. If it’s a foot or two you’re probably bringing it down to six inches,” said Joe Kantor the Director of Project Development.
The city says additional drainage improvements on LaSalle Street are ongoing and include a newly constructed outfall and the installation of new pipes and inlets. Once complete, the city says these improvements will improve drainage on LaSalle Street.
Subsequent phases of the project include the installation of new pipes and inlets on roadways in the LaSalle Street neighborhood. Once completed, the new drainage system will further mitigate flooding in the area.
The neighbors say they’re just ready to no longer have to deal with so much water.
“The rumor is that they’re going to put a 10-inch down the middle of the street, like they should have had,” Harris said. “We’re almost 100 years old in this neighborhood. So, we’re due.”
The city says there have been no major delays on the project. Weather events were anticipated and have had minimal impacts on construction.
