June 10, 2024 • 10 mins
After a slight delay, rainy season is expected to come in full force in the Tampa Bay area with tropical moisture dropping several inches this week. That means possible street flooding and a potential slowdown of beach renourishment. We speak with Pinellas County floodplain administrator Lisa Foster and public information coordinator Ashley Giovanetti on how the weather could affect the county this week.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Gordon Bird here with Beyond the News. Panella's County and the Tampa Bay Area
do for quite a few inches ofrainfall over the next few days as rainy
season gets underway in this part ofFlorida, and we're going to check in
with some Panella's County officials to kindof give us a little bit of a
refresher course on dealing with high waters, because it's been a while. Frankly,
(00:24):
Lisa Foster is Panellas County's flood plane. Take that again in three two
one. Gordon Bird here with Beyondthe News. It is the beginning of
rainy season and we're going to seeover the next few days, possibly several
inches of rain over the immediate TampaBay area as the season kicks in.
And we're kind of doing a refresherhere on dealing with high water, which
(00:46):
has been an issue in several partsof Panella's County and the Tampa Bay area
in recent weeks, months, andyears because of various weather phenomena hurricanes,
winter storms, et cetera. Andwe're just kind of doing a refresher course
to make sure you're all up tospeed. Lisa Foster is Panellas County's flood
Plain Administrator and deals with a lotof these issues as far as flooding and
(01:08):
effects on neighborhoods. Ashley Giavannetti isthe communications project coordinator with Panellas County for
Beach Renourishment, and that's a topicthat's been going on now for some time,
and partly as a result of someof the weather experiences we've had in
recent months and years. Lisa andAshley, thank you both, and welcome
to Beyond the News. Thank you, thank you, Dan, happy to
(01:32):
be here. Well. First ofall, we are hearing that we could
get several inches of rain around theTampa Bay area this week between now and
about Friday, and maybe not asmuch as areas to our south, but
it is our first big rainfall eventof the wet season. And the question
here what can residents expect with severalinches of rain in the forecast if they
(01:56):
live in a lower lying area orone where they see flood. I think,
should they be planning for dealing withstanding water, should they be ready
to break out the sandbags? Whatdo they need to know? Well,
based on the National Weather Service forecast, we will probably see some urban flooding
with the heavier prolonged rain bands overthe next several days. It's about eight
to ten inches of rain over aweek, so we need to be on
(02:22):
the lookoup for those called rain bombswhere it rains very very heavy for a
short period of time, as wellas constant rain over many days. I
think we'll probably end up with severalrain bombs. Because the soil is so
dry, more rain is going torun off, which may add to the
runoff that's going into the stormwater pipes, which could back them up. Especially
(02:43):
with those rain bombs, that's goingto cause some street and yard flooding,
especially in those poorly drained areas.Our crews were out over the past couple
of days and checked all of ourwhat we call flooding hotspots, so basically
all of our stormwater infrastructure around thecounty to make sure that all the drains
were clear of vegetation to reduce thatflood risk. People can do this at
(03:04):
home too. They can check theiryards make sure that all their lawn debris
cleaned up and there's nothing there thatmay wash into the storm drains and clung
them up. And of course lawndebris is an issue for a lot of
reasons, one of which is ofcourse that they sometimes drain into the bay
or to the gulf. Exactly.We don't want to have those the vegetation
(03:25):
and the lawn clippings, that's whatI couldn't think of. We don't want
to see those lawn clippings getting washeddown into the bay and adding nutrients into
the bay. Now is it timeto be aware for the possibility of needing
to drive safely around water dealing withflooding on roads. Absolutely, if you
(03:45):
encounter flooding on the street, don'ttry to walk through it or drive through
it. There's all kinds of stuffin that floodwater, you know, from
the viruses and bacteria. The roadcould be eroded underneath and you won't see
it. So there are a lotof reasons to stay out of those flood
waters. And of course that messageis turn around, don't drown. And
of course you don't want to makewake either, because the wake causes the
(04:06):
run up into the private properties andit causes more property damage than the actual
flooding itself. Now we all knowabout flooding and the possibility of it affecting
homes, about flood zones which arenot necessarily the same as evacuation zones.
Where can people find information about theflood zone maps and what kind of a
(04:27):
zone they're in. I would suggestthat folks go to the Panela's County flood
Risk viewer. It's floodmaps dot panelasstock up. All of the areas on
that service are going to be shadedand blue. Those are the floodplains.
The current forecast, though, isnot going to be that level of flooding,
So those floodplain maps are for yourone percent annual chance storm and really
(04:48):
they're used to make sure that folksare building structures that are going to be
protected from flooding. Those areas youmay see more of the road flooding though,
So it's definitely used spilled to takea look at that map service and
see what areas are in that shadedblue. Now, the evacuation zones are
completely different, and the flood zonesare also completely different. So FEMA makes
(05:10):
flood zones, and those blood zonesmay be low, moderate, or high
risk according to the FEMA studies.The evacuation zones, however, are based
on storm surge risk, and youknow that's a life safety matter. So
those evacuation zones need to You needto know your evacuation zone and when to
evacuate. The floodplaines are generated byboth the county and FEMA. FEMA considers
(05:32):
their high risk flood zones that floodplainarea. The county also has floodplain areas,
so we ensure that development is builtto be protected. Now to Ashley
Giovaneddi, you of course have beenworking with the county on beach ree nourishment
and getting information out about that.Does this level of rain or are you
(05:54):
expecting any impact as we get intorainy season as far as any impact on
beach renourishment efforts which have been goingon for some time. So currently we
are doing some beach renourishment in thePasta Grill area in the pastor Girl Beach
area. Really, for any typeof a storm, whether it's a winter
(06:15):
storm, a hurricane, a smalltropical storm, even just a rain event,
we're going to get erosion. Itwill happen during the times that we're
doing nourishment on the beaches, andlike this drudging project that's currently happening in
past A Grill, it would justdelay for the crews actually working on the
beach just a couple of days,but they have that all padded into the
(06:43):
length of their project, so theykind of have an understanding that, you
know, we are in the rainyseason. They also are working around things
like a sea turtle nesting season andmaking sure that the seat turtles are good
to go. But as far asbeach nourishment and any type of any rain
event or hurricane, we know howimportant it is to get that sand on
(07:05):
the beaches because it's going to eroad, right. That's the whole purpose
is getting that sand on the beachso that when erosion occurs, we still
have a lovely beach that protects us. Beach nourishment is for storm protection,
so it's a great added benefit thatwe have it to enjoy and our visitors
(07:28):
and our residents can lay out andget the sunning that they need and get
those great times on the beach.But really that beach nourishment is for storm
protection, and instances like this arethe reason that beach nourishment is so important.
Hopefully this won't be a sandbag eventfor a lot of people, but
I understand that Panilla's County is takinga new approach and offering a new service
(07:50):
for residents who need sand bags thisyear, if you would tell us about
that, Ashley, Yes, Gardon, thanks for asking. We have a
self service sandbag pickup site for residentsof unincorporated County in North Saint Petersburg.
It is at our Household Hazardous WasteFacility to eight five five one hundred and
(08:11):
ninth Avenue, North Saint Petersburg,and it's open year round Monday through Friday
from six am to six pm andSaturdays from seven am to five pm.
It allows our residents to get freesand bags well before a storm threat.
So I think we all remember thelong lines that happen in the twenty four
(08:33):
forty eight thirty six hours prior toa hurricane of trying to get sandbags at
their park or at their local sandbagsites. But this allows people to get
them well in advance and have themon hand for hurricane season. We don't
imagine that this necessarily will be anevent that people will need sand bags for,
but it's just a good reminder that, you know, sand bags are
(08:56):
only good for up to fifteen inchesof flooding. You know, don't stop
water completely. They can reduce theamount of water that enters your home,
but they don't protect it against waveor storm surge for larger storms. Now
again, the rain that we're comingup against, I don't we don't imagine
that sandbags will be necessary, butit's just a good reminder that they are
(09:18):
available, and they're available Monday throughFriday six am to six pm and Saturday
from seven am to five pm.They can pick up ten sandbags at the
new site or any free sandbag eventsthat are going to be happening all around
the county. And once again,as we all know, this is the
first event of the rainy season.And Lisa Foster, that of course means
(09:43):
people having forgotten how to drive inthe rain, that and how to deal
with the flooded streets that they needto be They need to be careful drivers.
Yes, they definitely need to becareful drivers. Like I said earlier,
please don't drive through the flooded airis you know, the wake that's
that's caused by driving through these floodedareas causes more damage to the property than
(10:05):
the flooding itself. And you know, if you're in one of these areas
with poor drainage, you've experienced floodingfrom heavier prolonged rainfall in the past.
Please do make your preparations now toprotect your property and make sure that you
stay high and dry. This weekLisa Foster and Nashley Giovinedi with panelas County.
Thank you both for joining us onBeyond the News Dig you Gordon,
Thanks Gordon all Right.
Gordon Bird here with Beyond the News. Panella's County and the Tampa Bay Area
do for quite a few inches ofrainfall over the next few days as rainy
season gets underway in this part ofFlorida, and we're going to check in
with some Panella's County officials to kindof give us a little bit of a
refresher course on dealing with high waters, because it's been a while. Frankly,
(00:24):
Lisa Foster is Panellas County's flood plane. Take that again in three two
one. Gordon Bird here with Beyondthe News. It is the beginning of
rainy season and we're going to seeover the next few days, possibly several
inches of rain over the immediate TampaBay area as the season kicks in.
And we're kind of doing a refresherhere on dealing with high water, which
(00:46):
has been an issue in several partsof Panella's County and the Tampa Bay area
in recent weeks, months, andyears because of various weather phenomena hurricanes,
winter storms, et cetera. Andwe're just kind of doing a refresher course
to make sure you're all up tospeed. Lisa Foster is Panellas County's flood
Plain Administrator and deals with a lotof these issues as far as flooding and
(01:08):
effects on neighborhoods. Ashley Giavannetti isthe communications project coordinator with Panellas County for
Beach Renourishment, and that's a topicthat's been going on now for some time,
and partly as a result of someof the weather experiences we've had in
recent months and years. Lisa andAshley, thank you both, and welcome
to Beyond the News. Thank you, thank you, Dan, happy to
(01:32):
be here. Well. First ofall, we are hearing that we could
get several inches of rain around theTampa Bay area this week between now and
about Friday, and maybe not asmuch as areas to our south, but
it is our first big rainfall eventof the wet season. And the question
here what can residents expect with severalinches of rain in the forecast if they
(01:56):
live in a lower lying area orone where they see flood. I think,
should they be planning for dealing withstanding water, should they be ready
to break out the sandbags? Whatdo they need to know? Well,
based on the National Weather Service forecast, we will probably see some urban flooding
with the heavier prolonged rain bands overthe next several days. It's about eight
to ten inches of rain over aweek, so we need to be on
(02:22):
the lookoup for those called rain bombswhere it rains very very heavy for a
short period of time, as wellas constant rain over many days. I
think we'll probably end up with severalrain bombs. Because the soil is so
dry, more rain is going torun off, which may add to the
runoff that's going into the stormwater pipes, which could back them up. Especially
(02:43):
with those rain bombs, that's goingto cause some street and yard flooding,
especially in those poorly drained areas.Our crews were out over the past couple
of days and checked all of ourwhat we call flooding hotspots, so basically
all of our stormwater infrastructure around thecounty to make sure that all the drains
were clear of vegetation to reduce thatflood risk. People can do this at
(03:04):
home too. They can check theiryards make sure that all their lawn debris
cleaned up and there's nothing there thatmay wash into the storm drains and clung
them up. And of course lawndebris is an issue for a lot of
reasons, one of which is ofcourse that they sometimes drain into the bay
or to the gulf. Exactly.We don't want to have those the vegetation
(03:25):
and the lawn clippings, that's whatI couldn't think of. We don't want
to see those lawn clippings getting washeddown into the bay and adding nutrients into
the bay. Now is it timeto be aware for the possibility of needing
to drive safely around water dealing withflooding on roads. Absolutely, if you
(03:45):
encounter flooding on the street, don'ttry to walk through it or drive through
it. There's all kinds of stuffin that floodwater, you know, from
the viruses and bacteria. The roadcould be eroded underneath and you won't see
it. So there are a lotof reasons to stay out of those flood
waters. And of course that messageis turn around, don't drown. And
of course you don't want to makewake either, because the wake causes the
(04:06):
run up into the private properties andit causes more property damage than the actual
flooding itself. Now we all knowabout flooding and the possibility of it affecting
homes, about flood zones which arenot necessarily the same as evacuation zones.
Where can people find information about theflood zone maps and what kind of a
(04:27):
zone they're in. I would suggestthat folks go to the Panela's County flood
Risk viewer. It's floodmaps dot panelasstock up. All of the areas on
that service are going to be shadedand blue. Those are the floodplains.
The current forecast, though, isnot going to be that level of flooding,
So those floodplain maps are for yourone percent annual chance storm and really
(04:48):
they're used to make sure that folksare building structures that are going to be
protected from flooding. Those areas youmay see more of the road flooding though,
So it's definitely used spilled to takea look at that map service and
see what areas are in that shadedblue. Now, the evacuation zones are
completely different, and the flood zonesare also completely different. So FEMA makes
(05:10):
flood zones, and those blood zonesmay be low, moderate, or high
risk according to the FEMA studies.The evacuation zones, however, are based
on storm surge risk, and youknow that's a life safety matter. So
those evacuation zones need to You needto know your evacuation zone and when to
evacuate. The floodplaines are generated byboth the county and FEMA. FEMA considers
(05:32):
their high risk flood zones that floodplainarea. The county also has floodplain areas,
so we ensure that development is builtto be protected. Now to Ashley
Giovaneddi, you of course have beenworking with the county on beach ree nourishment
and getting information out about that.Does this level of rain or are you
(05:54):
expecting any impact as we get intorainy season as far as any impact on
beach renourishment efforts which have been goingon for some time. So currently we
are doing some beach renourishment in thePasta Grill area in the pastor Girl Beach
area. Really, for any typeof a storm, whether it's a winter
(06:15):
storm, a hurricane, a smalltropical storm, even just a rain event,
we're going to get erosion. Itwill happen during the times that we're
doing nourishment on the beaches, andlike this drudging project that's currently happening in
past A Grill, it would justdelay for the crews actually working on the
beach just a couple of days,but they have that all padded into the
(06:43):
length of their project, so theykind of have an understanding that, you
know, we are in the rainyseason. They also are working around things
like a sea turtle nesting season andmaking sure that the seat turtles are good
to go. But as far asbeach nourishment and any type of any rain
event or hurricane, we know howimportant it is to get that sand on
(07:05):
the beaches because it's going to eroad, right. That's the whole purpose
is getting that sand on the beachso that when erosion occurs, we still
have a lovely beach that protects us. Beach nourishment is for storm protection,
so it's a great added benefit thatwe have it to enjoy and our visitors
(07:28):
and our residents can lay out andget the sunning that they need and get
those great times on the beach.But really that beach nourishment is for storm
protection, and instances like this arethe reason that beach nourishment is so important.
Hopefully this won't be a sandbag eventfor a lot of people, but
I understand that Panilla's County is takinga new approach and offering a new service
(07:50):
for residents who need sand bags thisyear, if you would tell us about
that, Ashley, Yes, Gardon, thanks for asking. We have a
self service sandbag pickup site for residentsof unincorporated County in North Saint Petersburg.
It is at our Household Hazardous WasteFacility to eight five five one hundred and
(08:11):
ninth Avenue, North Saint Petersburg,and it's open year round Monday through Friday
from six am to six pm andSaturdays from seven am to five pm.
It allows our residents to get freesand bags well before a storm threat.
So I think we all remember thelong lines that happen in the twenty four
(08:33):
forty eight thirty six hours prior toa hurricane of trying to get sandbags at
their park or at their local sandbagsites. But this allows people to get
them well in advance and have themon hand for hurricane season. We don't
imagine that this necessarily will be anevent that people will need sand bags for,
but it's just a good reminder that, you know, sand bags are
(08:56):
only good for up to fifteen inchesof flooding. You know, don't stop
water completely. They can reduce theamount of water that enters your home,
but they don't protect it against waveor storm surge for larger storms. Now
again, the rain that we're comingup against, I don't we don't imagine
that sandbags will be necessary, butit's just a good reminder that they are
(09:18):
available, and they're available Monday throughFriday six am to six pm and Saturday
from seven am to five pm.They can pick up ten sandbags at the
new site or any free sandbag eventsthat are going to be happening all around
the county. And once again,as we all know, this is the
first event of the rainy season.And Lisa Foster, that of course means
(09:43):
people having forgotten how to drive inthe rain, that and how to deal
with the flooded streets that they needto be They need to be careful drivers.
Yes, they definitely need to becareful drivers. Like I said earlier,
please don't drive through the flooded airis you know, the wake that's
that's caused by driving through these floodedareas causes more damage to the property than
(10:05):
the flooding itself. And you know, if you're in one of these areas
with poor drainage, you've experienced floodingfrom heavier prolonged rainfall in the past.
Please do make your preparations now toprotect your property and make sure that you
stay high and dry. This weekLisa Foster and Nashley Giovinedi with panelas County.
Thank you both for joining us onBeyond the News Dig you Gordon,
Thanks Gordon all Right.
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