‘Flood Hub’ director: Flooding will continue unless Fla. stormwater systems are updated
On Thursday, Sept. 26, Hurricane Helene hit the Big Bend area of Florida around 11:00 p.m.
The category 4 storm has left flood victims along the Gulf Coast and Southeastern U.S. with a death toll that has reached 179 people as of Wednesday.
Even though Pinellas County received less rainfall than North Florida, more than 500 water rescues were completed during Helene.
High flood waters left people west of U.S. 19 along the Gulf Coast completely inundated with flood water.
But it wasn’t rainfall that caused the flooding, it was storm surge and high winds.
“The real problem for those in Tampa Bay, is when we have a tremendous amount of storm surge caused by the storm itself pushing water into the bay, but we also have a tremendous amount of rain on the land at the same time that is trying to make its way to the ocean,” Dr. Tom Frazer said. “That water that falls on the land has nowhere to go.”
Frazer is the executive director of the Florida Flood Hub for Applied Research and Innovation at the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science.