JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Unusually bad flooding in San Marco took residents by surprise Wednesday, prompting questions about the drainage infrastructure in the area.
VIDEO | Cars stranded, trash can floats down road amid widespread flooding in San Marco
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“I think a lot of it was just the system as a whole, was just overwhelmed throughout the whole area,” said City Councilman Joe Carlucci. “So that’s what we’re trying to figure out.”
Construction of a new pump station at LaSalle Street pump station is currently underway. The construction work began in May 2023.
Carlucci said two other pump stations in San Marco are located by Landon Park and on Children’s Way, near Nemours.
RELATED | The new LaSalle Street pump station is expected to ease San Marco’s longtime flooding issues
Portable pumps were brought in to LaSalle Street on Wednesday, but the flooding remained widespread.
According to the city, the new pump station will discharge stormwater to the St. Johns River and handle an increase in stormwater capacity. Other improvements include grading that the city says will quickly drain stormwater from roads into the collection system and the installation of larger pipes, which will speed up water flow.
The city says the newly installed pump station at LaSalle Street is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2025.
A city spokesperson provided the following statement on the project:
“Construction on the first phase of the City of Jacksonville’s LaSalle Street Drainage Improvement Project began on LaSalle Street in 2023 and is on schedule, with the newly installed pump station expected to be operational in Q1 2025. Additional drainage improvements on LaSalle Street are ongoing and include a newly constructed outfall and the installation of new drainage pipes and inlets. Once complete and operational, drainage on LaSalle Street will improve. 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.”
City officials also told News4JAX that crews will continue to visit affected areas in the coming days to investigate the stormwater collection system.
Many areas of town experienced flooding yesterday after a severe storm dumped as much as six inches of rainfall in some areas in under two hours.
Even with stormwater systems temporarily being overtaxed by the very heavy rains, crews were out working to verify that systems were open and unblocked to handle as much flow as possible. Shortly after the heaviest of the rainfall ceased, stormwater systems began to recover and flooded areas drained.
Over the next several days, crews will continue to visit areas that experienced flooding to investigate the stormwater systems and take action as necessary to ensure they are open to receive stormwater runoff and drain these areas during regular rainfall events.
Meanwhile, as the climate continues to heat up, it becomes ever more important for the City of Jacksonville to build on our landmark resilience strategy helping us to adapt and prepare for severe weather events and other stressors related to climate change.
Melissa Ross, COJ