Flooding impacts lives and plans in Village of the Arts

The weekend’s torrential rains led to flooding at 12th Street West and 11th Avenue West in Bradenton’s Village of the Arts, upsetting residents who say they have been through this many times and are ready for a permanent solution.

At around 10 p.m. Saturday, the intersection had about 2 feet of standing water, said Michael Zucker, 1103 12th St. W., Bradenton.

Zucker had someone take a picture of him standing in water up to his thighs.

The flooding was so severe Saturday that when cars passed through it, wakes of waves seeped through the front door and into Lynn Walker’s house at 1102 12th St. W., Bradenton, across the street from Zucker.

Both Zucker and Walker hope that one day the city of Bradenton will rework the drainage system at the intersection.

“As soon as it started raining hard I knew something was going to be up,” Walker said. “I have pictures of the intersection in July after a half-hour rain and the intersection was entirely flooded. Any time that we get a significant downpour, this entire intersection and all the way down 11th Avenue West is flooded.”

Walker and Zucker both say that water comes from every direction in Village of the Arts and drains to this intersection.

“This is something going on on this street for over 10 years,” Walker added.

Graciela Giles-Rose, widow of artist Herbie Rose, one of the founders of Village of the Arts, owns the property on the northwest corner of the intersection. She said she is worried about her plans to build there.

“That’s where we had the grand opening of the Village in 2001 and where the mayor proclaimed the Village open,” Giles-Rose said Sunday. “That is where I plan to open my next studio but this flooding is a concern.”

Zucker flew back home to Florida Saturday night from Washington state and got back to Bradenton around 8:45 p.m.

“The intersection was filling up,” Zucker said. “There was still some dry spaces in the middle. I put my stuff away away and, about 30 minutes later, I walked outside and the water had risen significantly.”

They agree a temporary action would be to block the intersection off when it floods so motorists won’t drive through the standing water sending waves toward houses, Walker said.

This story was originally published August 27, 2017 at 7:21 PM with the headline "Flooding impacts lives and plans in Village of the Arts."