EDGEWATER, Fla. – Edgewater residents say they can’t get a break from flooding, even from the overnight rain. On Thursday morning, dozens of residents said they woke up to almost a foot of water going right up to their house, primarily in the Florida Shores neighborhood.
The mayor told News 6 the interim city manager has a plan now to address the flooding crisis.
“Last night we were out here in boots and ponchos, gloves, and we were throwing sandbags just to make sure it didn’t come into our garage again,” said resident Allison Roberts.
Roberts told News 6 despite having put in her own draining system in her yard and having the city clean the culverts next to her home recently, they still get flooding in their yard, patios, and garage in moderate rain.
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“The first thing I do as a homeowner is pray and I have to work hand in hand with our city,” she said.
Two weeks ago, the city council fired the city manager amid this flooding crisis.
“We had prior management who just sat here for five years and didn’t do the proper routine maintenance,” said Mayor Diezel DePew.
Now, DePew said the interim city manager has a plan to get the city’s drainage systems back up and running.
“How to do our routine schedule maintenance, how we’re going to control vegetation growth in our canals at a reasonable level, the equipment we need and how we’re going to get the funding to do so,” he said.
Depew said the interim city manager will reveal the plan’s exact details and timeline at the city council meeting on Monday. He said the city will also be declaring a state of emergency in hopes it gets the state’s attention to help with the costs.
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