March 6, 2025 • 28 mins
Two years after devastating floods and countless promises from officials, Port Orange residents just discovered their salvation has been postponed. The Cambridge Basin project and Pepper Hill Madeline Pond improvements—critical flood prevention infrastructure—won't begin until 2026, leaving vulnerable neighborhoods exposed through multiple hurricane seasons.
VCU dives deep into the troubling timeline shifts affecting Volusia County's stormwater management. Projects originally slated for completion years ago remain in limbo while residents face the terrifying prospect of repeated flooding. Beyond official plans, the hosts share grassroots mitigation strategies—from French drains to furniture elevation—that residents are implementing while waiting for long-term solutions.
The human toll of these delays cannot be overstated. Residents describe anxiety, financial strain, and the emotional exhaustion of living with uncertainty. Yet through community support and information sharing, they're finding ways to face these challenges together.
Join the conversation on the "Volusia County Uncovered" Facebook page, attend the next Port Orange city commission meeting, and help keep officials accountable for the promises made to protect our communities. Together, we can demand transparency and action for Volusia County's flood-prone neighborhoods.
This show is produced by Beachside Productions
Contact Alec Ferguson
Alecferguson21@gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sarah (00:08):
Welcome back.
This is our second episode ofthe Volusia County Uncovered
podcast.
My name is Sarah Donnally andI'm joined with Lori Becker.
How you doing tonight, Sarah?
Doing good, doing good.
We've got bike week in town.
Hope everybody's enjoying thenice weather that we have and
staying safe out there on thosestreets.
Lori (00:29):
Sure is a distraction from what we've been dealing with
the last week.
Sarah (00:33):
We have a lot that happened in the last week since
we've filmed our first episode.
Lori (00:39):
Yeah, we've uncovered, haven't we?
Sarah, right, you want to talkabout that facebook post that
the city of port orange put out?
Wow, okay, here we go.
Our city leaders recently metwith state legislatures to
discuss the projects that wewere talking about last week,
about the cambridge basin,breaching levee, flooding homes
(01:03):
and also the Pepper Hillsituation as well.
So there apparently is fundingand grants that are going to
accelerate this criticalstormwater utility improvements.
So the first one, right,cambridge, that's the one that
everyone's been talking aboutbecause it's been in play for
two years now we finally got theUS Army Corps of Engineering on
(01:26):
board and they're going toenhance the pump efficiency
during high tides, strengthenthe structure for future storms
and, hopefully, these upgradesare expected to provide critical
funding relief for residents inthe Cambridge Basin
neighborhood.
Sarah (01:43):
And this is big news to residents here.
We've been waiting for updateson the Cambridge Canal
improvements, and this week wefinally received them.
Lori (01:54):
There's always this unfortunate situation of a
timeline okay, and so we do havesomebody who lives in the woods
, in the woods off of SpruceCreek, that's been very
proactive in trying to keep thisplan moving along and
apparently the timeline is justnot working out like.
It was supposed to be startedsometime in spring of 25.
(02:16):
And now the new local fundinginitiative says that it's going
to start in 26 and then it'sgoing to take two years.
So these folks that live in thewoods are now literally in the
woods because they're going tobe, you know, underwater again.
Okay, because we're a lotthey're.
(02:38):
They're a long way out, they'reyears out now from any kind of
substantial structure that'sgoing to hold that water back in
Rose Bay and keep those housesfrom flooding.
Sarah (02:50):
Yes, those homes in the Cambridge Basin heavily rely on
the Cambridge pump station Right.
Lori (02:58):
So I'm not quite sure of the number of homes that were
affected in there, but thebottom line is is we're behind
the curve on the funding forthat, and now we're looking at
two more hurricane seasons thatthese folks are going to have to
live through, if you know, ifin fact we get flooded again, I
mean hopefully they're puttingmore sandbags up, because that's
(03:21):
all they can do right now so in.
Sarah (03:23):
The despairing part about that is that residents were
told that hopefully they wouldonly have to go through one more
storm until the project wascompleted, and now we're finding
out that we're more or less twoyears pushed back.
Lori (03:37):
Right, right, and so you know.
One of the problems with thatis that there's a lot of people
in those communities thatdepended on SBA loans the small
business loans to help get themthrough extra money they needed.
They didn't get enoughinsurance money so they needed
out-of-pocket expenses covered,so they filed for these SBA
(03:59):
loans through FEMA.
Well, you know, those SBA loansyou have to repair and stay in
your home for five years.
So that means that you knowimpending doom of possibly
another flood like three andfive.
I mean, come on, that is thepotential of what can happen to
(04:19):
these people is three flood,three substantial floodings in
five years, if it happens.
It's all hypothetical, I getthat, but that is the pain and
the suffering that theseresidents are dealing with is
waiting for the city to get thefunding and the state to give
(04:39):
the city the funding to buildthis new levee.
Sarah (04:42):
It's really important.
I think that the city stays ontop of the Cambridge Canal.
Lori (04:48):
All right.
So I just, you know, I kind ofwant to let people know that
there are folks out there thathave been emailing the city
officials, city engineers,community development engineers
and whatnot.
So you know there are otherpeople out there trying, you
know, to help in our you know,endeavors to uncover you know
problems, and so it's importantthat the permitting and
(05:13):
everything regarding thisCambridge Basin stays on track
and that they give us all theright information.
If they say that it's, you knowit's most likely going to
happen, you know, in the spring,I can understand, maybe a
season, maybe two, but not awhole year.
Sarah (05:33):
The problem is the lack of transparency among the city
Residents truly don't know wherethese projects stand and, at
the end of the day, that'sreally what they want to know.
Lori (05:47):
Right, and so that's why we're here, right, absolutely.
You know, hopefully people arelistening and you know they
realize that we got to get ittogether.
You know we're not gettingenough information out of City
Hall or the county.
You know I'm sorry, but alittle Facebook post, you know,
from City Hall every now andthen is not reaching enough
(06:07):
people.
So there's an awful lot offeedback on Facebook, but it's
among the community, it's notreally coming from City Hall.
Do you have to attend citycommission meetings?
Yes, that is yourresponsibility if you want to
know more what's going on in thecity, but that's just not
always possible.
So you know, I'm really glad tobe with you here and to be able
(06:28):
to share some of this.
You know new information thatwe have.
Sarah (06:32):
Thanks, Lori.
I'm happy to be here with youtoo.
Lori (06:34):
What is this about this LMS?
You've been talking about thislocal mitigation strategy and I
have some idea of it.
I did attend two meetings of itlast year, but we're still in
the 2020 phase on that rightLike we're still working off of
the 2020 plan.
Sarah (06:54):
And that's because that's our most recent plan that the
county has put together theseLMS plans.
They must be updated every fiveyears to keep them in
compliance with FEMA funding.
Lori (07:08):
The.
Sarah (07:09):
LMS is a comprehensive plan among cities that assesses
risks and vulnerabilities andthen tries to mitigate those
hazards.
That's where we get that termhazard mitigation from.
Lori (07:23):
Right right.
Sarah (07:24):
It's important that the city be transparent with its
residents because residents needto be able to create their own
mitigation plan at the homelevel Right, and without the
transparency coming fromcommissioners, it's hard for the
people living in our communityto come up with their own
(07:45):
mitigation plan, the localmitigation strategy.
It encompasses the stormwatermaster plan that directly
focuses on the projects, theinfrastructure and the flood
control.
So the LMS outlines thatflooding is a very high risk in
(08:07):
Volusia County and then theycreate a stormwater master plan
that focuses on the specificprojects to control the hazard.
Lori (08:17):
And that's you know.
And they have to do this to tobe able to get funding, to be
able to keep the insurance costsdown.
It's all about understanding.
Sarah (08:25):
Yeah, the lms includes a lot more than just flooding.
What is?
Lori (08:29):
it's got wind, fire, tornado, tornadoes, right, right
right, but there is a big focuson flood, obviously, that is.
You know what we've beendealing with.
Sarah (08:40):
Well, according, to the lms.
It is the most frequent andcostly natural disaster in the
United States.
And on the smaller level in thecity of Port Orange.
As I stated, it is considered ahigh risk for the city.
Right, and so weren't theresome projects that were
identified, so there have beenseveral projects that have been
(09:03):
initiated.
Lori (09:05):
And these went as far back as 2016,.
Sarah (09:08):
Right, I mean they did, and that's because, again, we're
operating under the 2020 LMSRight.
We had some meetings a fewmonths ago regarding the updated
2025 LMS that is to come outthat will again keep the city
eligible to receive certainfundings right and so, uh, out
(09:31):
of the 2020, the projects werecambridge.
Lori (09:34):
There we go, uh, with construction planned for mid
2025, which we know that'sprobably not going to happen.
Um, the white place and theriverside drive, drainage
improvements, tumblebrook Drive,southwinds, stormwater Pond
outfall retrofit.
This was from 2020.
Sarah (09:57):
Yes, so we did five years ago.
That's correct.
In the mitigation action plan,the White Place and Riverside
Drive drainage improvements,tumblebrook Drive storm
improvements improvements,tumblebrook Drive storm
improvements and SouthwindStormwater Pond those were all
marked to be completed inDecember of 2016.
Right, so I'm not sure wherethe holdup is or why we're still
underway for those projects.
Lori (10:19):
It's taken way too long, absolutely.
Sarah (10:39):
I mean, if these projects would have been done back in
2020, you know, we had Ian in2022 and Milton in 2024.
Lori (10:45):
He told me because phase two was going to be putting a
pump in at Sugar Grove Court.
Phase two could take eight to10 years.
So he said that again.
All right, let's go ahead andtalk about the Pepper Hill
Madeline Pond.
That's a big topic right nowfor the Sugar Forest area over
in Port Orange.
That is going to be comprisedof 8,000 feet of closed pipe.
(11:09):
That's a mile and a half ofpiping.
All right.
So they did some sort of a studyon the pond and the pond wasn't
going to be enough.
They needed to be able todirect that water towards the
Halifax River.
So they've incorporated intothe plan now 8,000 feet of
enclosed pipe.
So that is going to be a hugeproject.
(11:30):
That is now this is the oneanother one, I'm going to tell
you that is behind by a year.
So at the october meeting thecity manager said that we would
be starting to dig the hole forthe pepper hill pond to help
relieve some of the flooding insugar forest.
Well, now it's looking like um,we're going to be starting in
(11:53):
february of 2026 this is stillthe project itself is great news
.
Sarah (11:59):
It's a solution that we've been waiting to see in the
city.
We need that 8,000 feet ofclosed stormwater pipe that will
direct east into the HalifaxRiver and dump that stormwater
into that larger body of water.
Lori (12:16):
Yes, they seem to think that's going to take some of the
pressure off of the Nova Canalas well, and so that water that
comes in from Nova Canal willeventually fall off into this
particular pond and then it'sinto the closed system that will
flow.
The corridor for that is goingto be Madeline, take a turn on
McDonald, go down Charles Street, go under the tracks.
(12:38):
Madeline, take a turn onMcDonald, go down Charles Street
, go under the tracks and theneventually get all the way to US
1, to the new BristolApartments at Riverwalk in Port
Orange.
So that is definitely going totake some time, some money and
time.
And so the estimated start dateof construction for this
particular Florida Senate localfunding initiative request is
(13:01):
supposed to be February 2026.
And then the estimatedcompletion date for this
construction is August 2027.
So here we are.
We're definitely going to begoing through two or three more
hurricane seasons with thepossibility of flooding in this
particular neighborhood.
(13:22):
So the thing that really bothersme, when I saw this particular
paperwork, this particular dateof request 2-6-25.
All right, this was just acouple of weeks ago Now.
I don't understand this,because the city manager said
this was going to be started inspring of 2025, but yet I see a
date of request 2-6-2025.
(13:45):
So I'm a little confused aboutthat.
I think that's something I'mgoing to have to talk to.
You know, bring up at the citycommission meeting tomorrow
night, because you know peoplewant to know.
People were expecting that pondto be dug like now, just like
they wanted Cambridge Basinfixed now.
Sarah (14:02):
Those were the top two projects.
I think residents were closelywatching, waiting to see when
these projects would begin.
Lori (14:11):
Right and now.
Sarah (14:12):
It's disheartening to find out that these projects are
a year or two behind, puttingus more susceptible to flooding.
Lori (14:20):
You know it's just more flooding and you know if I get
one more personally, if I getone more flood, that's three in
five.
300 letters went out, by theway.
300 letters went out to go overthe substantial flooding three
times in five or three in tenyears and that eventually the
(14:44):
city is going to want to acquireyour property.
Fema says, fema says we'regoing to take your property, and
so the city has to you know,has to start working on that
with a lot of, you know,homeowners.
They're taking three propertiesin Sugar Forest that I know of
for sure.
So it's just one thing afteranother can try and they're
(15:07):
constantly chasing their tail,reacting to what's been
happening as far as thesehurricanes and flooding.
I want to see more proactive.
We need to be more proactive onthis.
Like this shouldn't have beengoing on this long.
So yeah, if you really want totalk about more, about the
(15:27):
houses that the city has beentaking, all right.
So right now in the state ofFlorida there's been 3,100
applications to the ElevateFlorida program.
3,100 people have said take it,take my home, and go ahead and
lift it.
That's their choice.
(15:48):
You only get three choices here.
You either can elevate the home, you can have them acquire,
meaning take it, buy it out andmake it you know, just take it
down to the ground or you canreconstruct it, which means take
it down to the foundation andrebuild it.
So right now, 3,100 applicationsin the state of Florida, but
(16:11):
here's the sad number only 147in Volusia County.
That's where we're fallingshort.
We need more participation.
We really do, and so I've beentalking to Valerie at Community
Development Engineering in PortOrange and she is very grateful
that we are trying to help getthis information out and educate
(16:32):
people to mitigate.
This is part of the LMSstrategy.
This is in order to get peopleout of water.
We've got to raise the homes,take the homes or rebuild the
homes.
Right now, that's where we said147 applications and this
program runs out in July.
(16:53):
That's not enough.
It runs out in July, so it runsout or the money runs out first
.
It's one or the other.
I just got that informationtoday, by the way.
Or the homeowners don't have themoney to elevate their
properties, right, and so theeligibility requirements on that
(17:14):
is an elevation certificate andyou're going to be stuck paying
25% of the build, so they'renot going to give it to you.
You have to pay 25% of thebuild, 25% of your property
value you have to come out ofpocket with.
Now, for people that own a$400,000 house, that's $100,000.
(17:35):
Okay, that's 25% that I wouldhave to pay to keep my house
from flooding.
So no, people don't have that.
It might sound like a lot ofmoney to own a $400,000 house,
but to still come out of pocketwith a hundred grand is just,
it's not doable.
And I don't care how manygrants they say are out there to
(17:55):
help you with this.
You're not going to meet theeligibility requirements
financially because you make toomuch money, because you own a
$400,000 house.
There's also Transform 386.
That's only for a 1,200 squarefoot home, a house that's
probably worth about $250,000.
Maybe that person would beeligible for a grant and could
(18:18):
get that house lifted.
So it's still an ongoingprogram.
They're still working throughall of the problems, but right
now, 147 applications isridiculous when you think about
how many homes flooded in thelast two storms.
So people either don't knowabout this program or they just
(18:40):
can't qualify or they just don'thave the money to even be
eligible.
So that's the situation thatmost of the flooded residents in
Volusia County are in right now.
So that's the update on that.
3,100 homes in the state, 147in Volusia County and we're one
(19:03):
of the highest.
We're like rated number seven,seventh county.
The top ten were rated seventhfor flooding in the state of
Florida.
So that's ridiculous to onlyhave 100, not even 150
applications it is.
So we got a lot of work to do.
Still to get this word out,because I support this program,
(19:25):
at least they're trying to dosomething.
Sarah (19:28):
I see that they are trying to help.
I just don't know how peoplecan afford it.
Lori (19:31):
Right.
I mean I know what you'rewanting to do.
You're wanting to see thestormwater master plan come to
fruition.
I mean it needs to be happeningso that we're not flooding
anymore.
So we're just constantly behindthe curve on this that is my
argument.
Sarah (19:47):
There are there's millions of dollars of damage
that happens to homeowners whenhurricanes hit every year.
Lori (19:56):
We had two come back to back last year.
That's why this is allhappening.
That's why they've got to go upto Tallahassee and have
appropriation committee talks.
Sarah (20:07):
I'm interested to attend tomorrow night's city council
meeting and see what topics getbrought up and how heavy they
dive into stormwater.
Lori (20:19):
Yeah, they haven't really been talking about it much.
So I got an email from theassistant city manager and she
answered my question on Click it, fix it.
I was very happy about that.
I was like, wow, I have to geta response.
And she told me about these newPepper Hill plans that are
(20:41):
coming and that she's going toshe's briefing all the
commissioners this week bigmeeting.
So when we get into that, youknow city council chambers we
should expect them to be, youknow, just roaring from the
podium about this grand planthey have right now, Because you
(21:01):
know we've been waiting, right,we've been waiting.
We have Roll it out, let's rollit out.
So I'm very excited about howthey're going to present it.
Yeah, you know what?
There's one more area I'd liketo talk about.
So one of the things that Ireally wanted to at least touch
today is the humanistic side ofall of this.
Okay, so the podcast episodeone brought a lot of attention
(21:25):
to the subject in this area.
We are so grateful that it did.
Yeah, and so people they'vebeen posting on Facebook to the
podcast, and so I noticed therewere a couple there that were
just like screaming for more.
They wanted to talk about itmore.
They were emotionally affectedby it all.
So I decided to go ahead andprivate message them and have
(21:48):
some personal conversations withthem, and in that process I
found more people in the SugarForest area and I've made a few
more friends.
And today I actually had a galcome over because she's like
stuck in this, I don't know whatto do next.
You know situation.
(22:08):
She's a single woman.
She's put all her eggs in onebasket into the home that she
lives in terribly flooded twice,and so I said, well, why don't
you come over and see what I'vedone?
So I invited her to come overand I showed her.
You know, I bought this damneasy thing that I used to keep
the water from coming in on thesliding glass door in the back,
(22:30):
and then I paid $2,500 for aFrench drain.
We had dirt brought in.
I'm trying to keep the waterfrom the ditch coming into my
property.
I mean, I'm really working it.
I'm trying to keep the waterfrom the ditch coming into my
property.
I mean, I'm really working it.
I'm really trying to do youknow what the city ultimately
wants me to do takeresponsibility for my own
property.
All right, so even though I'mstill screaming for you to come
(22:52):
clean my ditch, I'm doing mybest because I know that it's
probably not going to happen.
In fact, juno told me todayfrom engineering no, cleaning
out that ditch is not going todo anything.
That is slow, creeping waterand nothing's really going to
change.
And I'm like, really, I have atree that's three feet in
diameter literally blocking theditch, and you don't think that
(23:14):
that's going to stop the waterfrom flowing.
So it's a losing battle, really, it's just a losing battle.
So this gal came over and Ishowed her all my little
projects and how I bumped up myfurniture and I put Tupperware
underneath the legs of my diningroom table and all this silly
stuff.
But you know what?
She walked away feelingempowered.
(23:38):
She walked away feeling I gotthis, I'm going to do this.
She made a decision that she wasgoing to stay and play and she
wasn't going to run and hide,and so, if anything, I feel like
she heard our podcast, shereached out and I was able to
give her some of my knowledgeand be able to give her some
(23:59):
peace of mind, because she Idon't even like to use the word
P ending with D, but you know,she's got some of that going on.
And yeah, and she's got some ofthat going on.
And so I felt like, if I couldhelp her get through some of
this emotional stuff, that we'redoing the right thing here.
(24:23):
So let's just keep pluggingaway and helping some of the
local residents that just need alittle help, guidance, someone
just to talk to, and so we'vegot two people showing up
tomorrow for the city commissionmeeting that have prepared to
talk, to talk first time everthey've done that.
Sarah (24:42):
So that's a big deal, yeah we're going to keep them on
their toes.
We want to keep encouragingresidents to show up and prepare
their three-minute speech.
Yeah, for city commissionersit's.
It's important for the reasonsthat you just listed.
They need to know the humanelement, the toll that this
truly takes on the people, right, right, I mean.
Lori (25:04):
It's not just about you know all the money that you're
going to be working on to keepus from flooding again.
It's about the human side ofthis.
Sarah (25:13):
People want to help themselves and they want to help
the community.
It goes back to what we weretalking about earlier.
The city needs a clearmitigation program that's
transparent and proactive andproactive so that residents can
create their own mitigation plan.
(25:35):
I feel that's what you werejust really saying, yep.
Lori (25:39):
Yep, I've had to create my own mitigation plan.
I feel that's what you werejust really saying Yep, yep,
I've had to create my ownmitigation plan.
And more people are going tohave to do that, and it's
unfortunate, but we're going tohave to.
And so if we can reach out intowhatever city you live in and
we can create some sort of youknow, we got a Facebook page now
, right?
Sarah (25:57):
We do.
Yeah, we got a Facebook page.
We do.
Volusia County Uncovered,that's it.
That's it.
We'll be posting updates oneverything to do with the city.
With the stormwater, we'rereally going to use it as our
home base, so we would reallylove if you'd follow us along.
Lori (26:14):
I think we got like 30 hits on it already today.
Sarah (26:22):
We did like 30 hits on it already today.
We did, we did.
People are hearing about it andyeah, and that's a great thing
because we are here to provideinformation yeah, to them so
that is, and that's the best wayto get it is to go on our
facebook page Volusia CountyUncovered.
Lori (26:34):
Give us a follow yeah, and you know post, you know
comments on there that we canwork with.
Sarah (26:41):
And show up to these meetings as well, go on the city
website Find out when the citycouncil meetings are.
This month.
We have tomorrow, march 4th, isthe city council meeting.
It's 630.
It's 630.
But please show up and come andlisten and hear.
It's a great way to involveyourself.
Come and listen and hear.
It's a great way to involveyourself and it's a great way to
(27:01):
understand some of theapproaches that the city is
taking and ways that you canmitigate.
Lori (27:07):
Yeah, you have to be empowered to take care of things
on your own.
You know the things that youcan do on your own, but let's
just hope that.
Sarah (27:17):
And some of those things do require a lot of money.
Lori (27:20):
Like you know, you put in a very nice french drain in your
house yep yeah well, Sarah,it's been good chatting again
and let's see what the citycommission brings up for us to
talk about next time.
Sarah (27:34):
Yeah, well thank you, Lori, for joining me tonight,
and on next episode we will betalking about the city
commission meeting.
Lori (27:42):
Yep, look forward to it tomorrow night Me too, at 630.
So we'll bring that to you onepisode three.
Have a good night, everyone,thank you.
Welcome back.
This is our second episode ofthe Volusia County Uncovered
podcast.
My name is Sarah Donnally andI'm joined with Lori Becker.
How you doing tonight, Sarah?
Doing good, doing good.
We've got bike week in town.
Hope everybody's enjoying thenice weather that we have and
staying safe out there on thosestreets.
Lori (00:29):
Sure is a distraction from what we've been dealing with
the last week.
Sarah (00:33):
We have a lot that happened in the last week since
we've filmed our first episode.
Lori (00:39):
Yeah, we've uncovered, haven't we?
Sarah, right, you want to talkabout that facebook post that
the city of port orange put out?
Wow, okay, here we go.
Our city leaders recently metwith state legislatures to
discuss the projects that wewere talking about last week,
about the cambridge basin,breaching levee, flooding homes
(01:03):
and also the Pepper Hillsituation as well.
So there apparently is fundingand grants that are going to
accelerate this criticalstormwater utility improvements.
So the first one, right,cambridge, that's the one that
everyone's been talking aboutbecause it's been in play for
two years now we finally got theUS Army Corps of Engineering on
(01:26):
board and they're going toenhance the pump efficiency
during high tides, strengthenthe structure for future storms
and, hopefully, these upgradesare expected to provide critical
funding relief for residents inthe Cambridge Basin
neighborhood.
Sarah (01:43):
And this is big news to residents here.
We've been waiting for updateson the Cambridge Canal
improvements, and this week wefinally received them.
Lori (01:54):
There's always this unfortunate situation of a
timeline okay, and so we do havesomebody who lives in the woods
, in the woods off of SpruceCreek, that's been very
proactive in trying to keep thisplan moving along and
apparently the timeline is justnot working out like.
It was supposed to be startedsometime in spring of 25.
(02:16):
And now the new local fundinginitiative says that it's going
to start in 26 and then it'sgoing to take two years.
So these folks that live in thewoods are now literally in the
woods because they're going tobe, you know, underwater again.
Okay, because we're a lotthey're.
(02:38):
They're a long way out, they'reyears out now from any kind of
substantial structure that'sgoing to hold that water back in
Rose Bay and keep those housesfrom flooding.
Sarah (02:50):
Yes, those homes in the Cambridge Basin heavily rely on
the Cambridge pump station Right.
Lori (02:58):
So I'm not quite sure of the number of homes that were
affected in there, but thebottom line is is we're behind
the curve on the funding forthat, and now we're looking at
two more hurricane seasons thatthese folks are going to have to
live through, if you know, ifin fact we get flooded again, I
mean hopefully they're puttingmore sandbags up, because that's
(03:21):
all they can do right now so in.
Sarah (03:23):
The despairing part about that is that residents were
told that hopefully they wouldonly have to go through one more
storm until the project wascompleted, and now we're finding
out that we're more or less twoyears pushed back.
Lori (03:37):
Right, right, and so you know.
One of the problems with thatis that there's a lot of people
in those communities thatdepended on SBA loans the small
business loans to help get themthrough extra money they needed.
They didn't get enoughinsurance money so they needed
out-of-pocket expenses covered,so they filed for these SBA
(03:59):
loans through FEMA.
Well, you know, those SBA loansyou have to repair and stay in
your home for five years.
So that means that you knowimpending doom of possibly
another flood like three andfive.
I mean, come on, that is thepotential of what can happen to
(04:19):
these people is three flood,three substantial floodings in
five years, if it happens.
It's all hypothetical, I getthat, but that is the pain and
the suffering that theseresidents are dealing with is
waiting for the city to get thefunding and the state to give
(04:39):
the city the funding to buildthis new levee.
Sarah (04:42):
It's really important.
I think that the city stays ontop of the Cambridge Canal.
Lori (04:48):
All right.
So I just, you know, I kind ofwant to let people know that
there are folks out there thathave been emailing the city
officials, city engineers,community development engineers
and whatnot.
So you know there are otherpeople out there trying, you
know, to help in our you know,endeavors to uncover you know
problems, and so it's importantthat the permitting and
(05:13):
everything regarding thisCambridge Basin stays on track
and that they give us all theright information.
If they say that it's, you knowit's most likely going to
happen, you know, in the spring,I can understand, maybe a
season, maybe two, but not awhole year.
Sarah (05:33):
The problem is the lack of transparency among the city
Residents truly don't know wherethese projects stand and, at
the end of the day, that'sreally what they want to know.
Lori (05:47):
Right, and so that's why we're here, right, absolutely.
You know, hopefully people arelistening and you know they
realize that we got to get ittogether.
You know we're not gettingenough information out of City
Hall or the county.
You know I'm sorry, but alittle Facebook post, you know,
from City Hall every now andthen is not reaching enough
(06:07):
people.
So there's an awful lot offeedback on Facebook, but it's
among the community, it's notreally coming from City Hall.
Do you have to attend citycommission meetings?
Yes, that is yourresponsibility if you want to
know more what's going on in thecity, but that's just not
always possible.
So you know, I'm really glad tobe with you here and to be able
(06:28):
to share some of this.
You know new information thatwe have.
Sarah (06:32):
Thanks, Lori.
I'm happy to be here with youtoo.
Lori (06:34):
What is this about this LMS?
You've been talking about thislocal mitigation strategy and I
have some idea of it.
I did attend two meetings of itlast year, but we're still in
the 2020 phase on that rightLike we're still working off of
the 2020 plan.
Sarah (06:54):
And that's because that's our most recent plan that the
county has put together theseLMS plans.
They must be updated every fiveyears to keep them in
compliance with FEMA funding.
Lori (07:08):
The.
Sarah (07:09):
LMS is a comprehensive plan among cities that assesses
risks and vulnerabilities andthen tries to mitigate those
hazards.
That's where we get that termhazard mitigation from.
Lori (07:23):
Right right.
Sarah (07:24):
It's important that the city be transparent with its
residents because residents needto be able to create their own
mitigation plan at the homelevel Right, and without the
transparency coming fromcommissioners, it's hard for the
people living in our communityto come up with their own
(07:45):
mitigation plan, the localmitigation strategy.
It encompasses the stormwatermaster plan that directly
focuses on the projects, theinfrastructure and the flood
control.
So the LMS outlines thatflooding is a very high risk in
(08:07):
Volusia County and then theycreate a stormwater master plan
that focuses on the specificprojects to control the hazard.
Lori (08:17):
And that's you know.
And they have to do this to tobe able to get funding, to be
able to keep the insurance costsdown.
It's all about understanding.
Sarah (08:25):
Yeah, the lms includes a lot more than just flooding.
What is?
Lori (08:29):
it's got wind, fire, tornado, tornadoes, right, right
right, but there is a big focuson flood, obviously, that is.
You know what we've beendealing with.
Sarah (08:40):
Well, according, to the lms.
It is the most frequent andcostly natural disaster in the
United States.
And on the smaller level in thecity of Port Orange.
As I stated, it is considered ahigh risk for the city.
Right, and so weren't theresome projects that were
identified, so there have beenseveral projects that have been
(09:03):
initiated.
Lori (09:05):
And these went as far back as 2016,.
Sarah (09:08):
Right, I mean they did, and that's because, again, we're
operating under the 2020 LMSRight.
We had some meetings a fewmonths ago regarding the updated
2025 LMS that is to come outthat will again keep the city
eligible to receive certainfundings right and so, uh, out
(09:31):
of the 2020, the projects werecambridge.
Lori (09:34):
There we go, uh, with construction planned for mid
2025, which we know that'sprobably not going to happen.
Um, the white place and theriverside drive, drainage
improvements, tumblebrook Drive,southwinds, stormwater Pond
outfall retrofit.
This was from 2020.
Sarah (09:57):
Yes, so we did five years ago.
That's correct.
In the mitigation action plan,the White Place and Riverside
Drive drainage improvements,tumblebrook Drive storm
improvements improvements,tumblebrook Drive storm
improvements and SouthwindStormwater Pond those were all
marked to be completed inDecember of 2016.
Right, so I'm not sure wherethe holdup is or why we're still
underway for those projects.
Lori (10:19):
It's taken way too long, absolutely.
Sarah (10:39):
I mean, if these projects would have been done back in
2020, you know, we had Ian in2022 and Milton in 2024.
Lori (10:45):
He told me because phase two was going to be putting a
pump in at Sugar Grove Court.
Phase two could take eight to10 years.
So he said that again.
All right, let's go ahead andtalk about the Pepper Hill
Madeline Pond.
That's a big topic right nowfor the Sugar Forest area over
in Port Orange.
That is going to be comprisedof 8,000 feet of closed pipe.
(11:09):
That's a mile and a half ofpiping.
All right.
So they did some sort of a studyon the pond and the pond wasn't
going to be enough.
They needed to be able todirect that water towards the
Halifax River.
So they've incorporated intothe plan now 8,000 feet of
enclosed pipe.
So that is going to be a hugeproject.
(11:30):
That is now this is the oneanother one, I'm going to tell
you that is behind by a year.
So at the october meeting thecity manager said that we would
be starting to dig the hole forthe pepper hill pond to help
relieve some of the flooding insugar forest.
Well, now it's looking like um,we're going to be starting in
(11:53):
february of 2026 this is stillthe project itself is great news
.
Sarah (11:59):
It's a solution that we've been waiting to see in the
city.
We need that 8,000 feet ofclosed stormwater pipe that will
direct east into the HalifaxRiver and dump that stormwater
into that larger body of water.
Lori (12:16):
Yes, they seem to think that's going to take some of the
pressure off of the Nova Canalas well, and so that water that
comes in from Nova Canal willeventually fall off into this
particular pond and then it'sinto the closed system that will
flow.
The corridor for that is goingto be Madeline, take a turn on
McDonald, go down Charles Street, go under the tracks.
(12:38):
Madeline, take a turn onMcDonald, go down Charles Street
, go under the tracks and theneventually get all the way to US
1, to the new BristolApartments at Riverwalk in Port
Orange.
So that is definitely going totake some time, some money and
time.
And so the estimated start dateof construction for this
particular Florida Senate localfunding initiative request is
(13:01):
supposed to be February 2026.
And then the estimatedcompletion date for this
construction is August 2027.
So here we are.
We're definitely going to begoing through two or three more
hurricane seasons with thepossibility of flooding in this
particular neighborhood.
(13:22):
So the thing that really bothersme, when I saw this particular
paperwork, this particular dateof request 2-6-25.
All right, this was just acouple of weeks ago Now.
I don't understand this,because the city manager said
this was going to be started inspring of 2025, but yet I see a
date of request 2-6-2025.
(13:45):
So I'm a little confused aboutthat.
I think that's something I'mgoing to have to talk to.
You know, bring up at the citycommission meeting tomorrow
night, because you know peoplewant to know.
People were expecting that pondto be dug like now, just like
they wanted Cambridge Basinfixed now.
Sarah (14:02):
Those were the top two projects.
I think residents were closelywatching, waiting to see when
these projects would begin.
Lori (14:11):
Right and now.
Sarah (14:12):
It's disheartening to find out that these projects are
a year or two behind, puttingus more susceptible to flooding.
Lori (14:20):
You know it's just more flooding and you know if I get
one more personally, if I getone more flood, that's three in
five.
300 letters went out, by theway.
300 letters went out to go overthe substantial flooding three
times in five or three in tenyears and that eventually the
(14:44):
city is going to want to acquireyour property.
Fema says, fema says we'regoing to take your property, and
so the city has to you know,has to start working on that
with a lot of, you know,homeowners.
They're taking three propertiesin Sugar Forest that I know of
for sure.
So it's just one thing afteranother can try and they're
(15:07):
constantly chasing their tail,reacting to what's been
happening as far as thesehurricanes and flooding.
I want to see more proactive.
We need to be more proactive onthis.
Like this shouldn't have beengoing on this long.
So yeah, if you really want totalk about more, about the
(15:27):
houses that the city has beentaking, all right.
So right now in the state ofFlorida there's been 3,100
applications to the ElevateFlorida program.
3,100 people have said take it,take my home, and go ahead and
lift it.
That's their choice.
(15:48):
You only get three choices here.
You either can elevate the home, you can have them acquire,
meaning take it, buy it out andmake it you know, just take it
down to the ground or you canreconstruct it, which means take
it down to the foundation andrebuild it.
So right now, 3,100 applicationsin the state of Florida, but
(16:11):
here's the sad number only 147in Volusia County.
That's where we're fallingshort.
We need more participation.
We really do, and so I've beentalking to Valerie at Community
Development Engineering in PortOrange and she is very grateful
that we are trying to help getthis information out and educate
(16:32):
people to mitigate.
This is part of the LMSstrategy.
This is in order to get peopleout of water.
We've got to raise the homes,take the homes or rebuild the
homes.
Right now, that's where we said147 applications and this
program runs out in July.
(16:53):
That's not enough.
It runs out in July, so it runsout or the money runs out first
.
It's one or the other.
I just got that informationtoday, by the way.
Or the homeowners don't have themoney to elevate their
properties, right, and so theeligibility requirements on that
(17:14):
is an elevation certificate andyou're going to be stuck paying
25% of the build, so they'renot going to give it to you.
You have to pay 25% of thebuild, 25% of your property
value you have to come out ofpocket with.
Now, for people that own a$400,000 house, that's $100,000.
(17:35):
Okay, that's 25% that I wouldhave to pay to keep my house
from flooding.
So no, people don't have that.
It might sound like a lot ofmoney to own a $400,000 house,
but to still come out of pocketwith a hundred grand is just,
it's not doable.
And I don't care how manygrants they say are out there to
(17:55):
help you with this.
You're not going to meet theeligibility requirements
financially because you make toomuch money, because you own a
$400,000 house.
There's also Transform 386.
That's only for a 1,200 squarefoot home, a house that's
probably worth about $250,000.
Maybe that person would beeligible for a grant and could
(18:18):
get that house lifted.
So it's still an ongoingprogram.
They're still working throughall of the problems, but right
now, 147 applications isridiculous when you think about
how many homes flooded in thelast two storms.
So people either don't knowabout this program or they just
(18:40):
can't qualify or they just don'thave the money to even be
eligible.
So that's the situation thatmost of the flooded residents in
Volusia County are in right now.
So that's the update on that.
3,100 homes in the state, 147in Volusia County and we're one
(19:03):
of the highest.
We're like rated number seven,seventh county.
The top ten were rated seventhfor flooding in the state of
Florida.
So that's ridiculous to onlyhave 100, not even 150
applications it is.
So we got a lot of work to do.
Still to get this word out,because I support this program,
(19:25):
at least they're trying to dosomething.
Sarah (19:28):
I see that they are trying to help.
I just don't know how peoplecan afford it.
Lori (19:31):
Right.
I mean I know what you'rewanting to do.
You're wanting to see thestormwater master plan come to
fruition.
I mean it needs to be happeningso that we're not flooding
anymore.
So we're just constantly behindthe curve on this that is my
argument.
Sarah (19:47):
There are there's millions of dollars of damage
that happens to homeowners whenhurricanes hit every year.
Lori (19:56):
We had two come back to back last year.
That's why this is allhappening.
That's why they've got to go upto Tallahassee and have
appropriation committee talks.
Sarah (20:07):
I'm interested to attend tomorrow night's city council
meeting and see what topics getbrought up and how heavy they
dive into stormwater.
Lori (20:19):
Yeah, they haven't really been talking about it much.
So I got an email from theassistant city manager and she
answered my question on Click it, fix it.
I was very happy about that.
I was like, wow, I have to geta response.
And she told me about these newPepper Hill plans that are
(20:41):
coming and that she's going toshe's briefing all the
commissioners this week bigmeeting.
So when we get into that, youknow city council chambers we
should expect them to be, youknow, just roaring from the
podium about this grand planthey have right now, Because you
(21:01):
know we've been waiting, right,we've been waiting.
We have Roll it out, let's rollit out.
So I'm very excited about howthey're going to present it.
Yeah, you know what?
There's one more area I'd liketo talk about.
So one of the things that Ireally wanted to at least touch
today is the humanistic side ofall of this.
Okay, so the podcast episodeone brought a lot of attention
(21:25):
to the subject in this area.
We are so grateful that it did.
Yeah, and so people they'vebeen posting on Facebook to the
podcast, and so I noticed therewere a couple there that were
just like screaming for more.
They wanted to talk about itmore.
They were emotionally affectedby it all.
So I decided to go ahead andprivate message them and have
(21:48):
some personal conversations withthem, and in that process I
found more people in the SugarForest area and I've made a few
more friends.
And today I actually had a galcome over because she's like
stuck in this, I don't know whatto do next.
You know situation.
(22:08):
She's a single woman.
She's put all her eggs in onebasket into the home that she
lives in terribly flooded twice,and so I said, well, why don't
you come over and see what I'vedone?
So I invited her to come overand I showed her.
You know, I bought this damneasy thing that I used to keep
the water from coming in on thesliding glass door in the back,
(22:30):
and then I paid $2,500 for aFrench drain.
We had dirt brought in.
I'm trying to keep the waterfrom the ditch coming into my
property.
I mean, I'm really working it.
I'm trying to keep the waterfrom the ditch coming into my
property.
I mean, I'm really working it.
I'm really trying to do youknow what the city ultimately
wants me to do takeresponsibility for my own
property.
All right, so even though I'mstill screaming for you to come
(22:52):
clean my ditch, I'm doing mybest because I know that it's
probably not going to happen.
In fact, juno told me todayfrom engineering no, cleaning
out that ditch is not going todo anything.
That is slow, creeping waterand nothing's really going to
change.
And I'm like, really, I have atree that's three feet in
diameter literally blocking theditch, and you don't think that
(23:14):
that's going to stop the waterfrom flowing.
So it's a losing battle, really, it's just a losing battle.
So this gal came over and Ishowed her all my little
projects and how I bumped up myfurniture and I put Tupperware
underneath the legs of my diningroom table and all this silly
stuff.
But you know what?
She walked away feelingempowered.
(23:38):
She walked away feeling I gotthis, I'm going to do this.
She made a decision that she wasgoing to stay and play and she
wasn't going to run and hide,and so, if anything, I feel like
she heard our podcast, shereached out and I was able to
give her some of my knowledgeand be able to give her some
(23:59):
peace of mind, because she Idon't even like to use the word
P ending with D, but you know,she's got some of that going on.
And yeah, and she's got some ofthat going on.
And so I felt like, if I couldhelp her get through some of
this emotional stuff, that we'redoing the right thing here.
(24:23):
So let's just keep pluggingaway and helping some of the
local residents that just need alittle help, guidance, someone
just to talk to, and so we'vegot two people showing up
tomorrow for the city commissionmeeting that have prepared to
talk, to talk first time everthey've done that.
Sarah (24:42):
So that's a big deal, yeah we're going to keep them on
their toes.
We want to keep encouragingresidents to show up and prepare
their three-minute speech.
Yeah, for city commissionersit's.
It's important for the reasonsthat you just listed.
They need to know the humanelement, the toll that this
truly takes on the people, right, right, I mean.
Lori (25:04):
It's not just about you know all the money that you're
going to be working on to keepus from flooding again.
It's about the human side ofthis.
Sarah (25:13):
People want to help themselves and they want to help
the community.
It goes back to what we weretalking about earlier.
The city needs a clearmitigation program that's
transparent and proactive andproactive so that residents can
create their own mitigation plan.
(25:35):
I feel that's what you werejust really saying, yep.
Lori (25:39):
Yep, I've had to create my own mitigation plan.
I feel that's what you werejust really saying Yep, yep,
I've had to create my ownmitigation plan.
And more people are going tohave to do that, and it's
unfortunate, but we're going tohave to.
And so if we can reach out intowhatever city you live in and
we can create some sort of youknow, we got a Facebook page now
, right?
Sarah (25:57):
We do.
Yeah, we got a Facebook page.
We do.
Volusia County Uncovered,that's it.
That's it.
We'll be posting updates oneverything to do with the city.
With the stormwater, we'rereally going to use it as our
home base, so we would reallylove if you'd follow us along.
Lori (26:14):
I think we got like 30 hits on it already today.
Sarah (26:22):
We did like 30 hits on it already today.
We did, we did.
People are hearing about it andyeah, and that's a great thing
because we are here to provideinformation yeah, to them so
that is, and that's the best wayto get it is to go on our
facebook page Volusia CountyUncovered.
Lori (26:34):
Give us a follow yeah, and you know post, you know
comments on there that we canwork with.
Sarah (26:41):
And show up to these meetings as well, go on the city
website Find out when the citycouncil meetings are.
This month.
We have tomorrow, march 4th, isthe city council meeting.
It's 630.
It's 630.
But please show up and come andlisten and hear.
It's a great way to involveyourself.
Come and listen and hear.
It's a great way to involveyourself and it's a great way to
(27:01):
understand some of theapproaches that the city is
taking and ways that you canmitigate.
Lori (27:07):
Yeah, you have to be empowered to take care of things
on your own.
You know the things that youcan do on your own, but let's
just hope that.
Sarah (27:17):
And some of those things do require a lot of money.
Lori (27:20):
Like you know, you put in a very nice french drain in your
house yep yeah well, Sarah,it's been good chatting again
and let's see what the citycommission brings up for us to
talk about next time.
Sarah (27:34):
Yeah, well thank you, Lori, for joining me tonight,
and on next episode we will betalking about the city
commission meeting.
Lori (27:42):
Yep, look forward to it tomorrow night Me too, at 630.
So we'll bring that to you onepisode three.
Have a good night, everyone,thank you.
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