Hurricane season has anxiety running high in these areas. How much is development to blame?

Most agree that a major storm packing fast and furious rain events can't stop flooding from taking place across Manatee County. A lot of factors go into it, including the amount of rain, how fast it drops, tides, stormwater pipe capacity, and yes, development.

While new developments come with the bells and whistles of modern stormwater infrastructure and retention ponds, no one is building a new Ware's Creek or a new Cedar Hammock drainage canal. New drainage pipes can whisk away the water from that particular project, but the water still has only so many places to go.

With hurricane season once again upon us, anxiety levels are running high in those neighborhood that have historical flooding issues, as well as areas that have recently been prone to flooding due to surrounding new development.

In January, residents of Sugar Creek Estates in east Bradenton cried foul over the Villages of Glen Creek development, saying they are seeing unprecedented flooding.

Such also is the case for the small subdivision of Centre Lake in southern Manatee County, whose residents had to be evacuated last August when a low-pressure system crawled up the Gulf Coast and dropped 23 inches of rain in some areas of the county. Residents say they had never experienced flooding until a nearby development was built.

The nearby Fiddler's Creek subdivision was built at an elevated height, putting their ground floors at where Centre Lake's rooftops are. Perhaps it was sound thinking on the developer's part, but was enough thought put into the impact of forcing additional runoff downhill into the Pearce Canal that runs behind Centre Lake?

"All it's going to take is one more big storm to wipe us out," said Centre Lake resident Ian Remelius.

Many residents in flood-prone areas had the same response when asked how they will prepare for this year's storm season.

"Honestly, what can you do? Have a supply of sandbags and have an evacuation plan in place," Remelius said. "Outside of a catastrophic storm, when it comes to preventing flooding, shouldn't that be more of a government responsibility? Irresponsible development, a lack of maintenance in these canals. Those are things the county controls, not the individual homeowner."

Manatee County came in after the flooding at Centre Lake and cleaned out the debris in the canal. Remelius said he'd have better peace of mind had the county taken the time to widen the canal. For a relatively small subdivision, there isn't a lot of peace of mind because five homes in the small subdivision have since been put up for sale.

"I was one of the few houses that didn't get flooded because mine probably sits a little higher than everyone else," he said. "But the water was all the way up to my door when we were getting evacuated and one more inch and I would have been in trouble."

Flooding is a game of inches and no one knows that better than residents along Ware's Creek. Not long after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced the completion of the lengthy $53 million flood mitigation project that was riddled with contractor issues, Category 1 Hurricane Hermine hit in 2016, overwhelming the creek and flooding homes.

Hermine flooded most of Manatee County, turning U.S. 41 into a river and breaking an 11-year streak of hurricanes not making landfall in Florida.

Rubonia, one of Manatee County's oldest neighborhoods, is no stranger to flooding. The low-income community deals with flooding after an average summer storm but continues to get hammered in the aftermath of a major rain event. Almost one year ago the county finally agreed to spend $2.4 million for a drainage/sidewalk project.

But it's been a decades-old fight for residents such as Charlie Miller Sr., owner of Chuck's Convenience Store in the heart of Rubonia, who wants to know where the money has gone after being approved last June.

"We've had this plan in place since 2009, but we've been fighting for the last 50 years to have something done," the 68-year-old lifelong Rubonia resident said. "Now here we are in 2018 and another hurricane season is here again with nothing done."

Project costs have now risen to about $3 million and the county has not updated residents on a start date. The county also did not respond to a request for an update. The Rubonia Association meets once a month and Miller said it's been about four to five months since the county has offered any new information.

"What's the next step? We haven't heard anything," Miller said. "Are we being forgotten about again? All they ever do is make sure we have sandbags. We need drainage. I don't know where we stand and it's not fair. They tell us the same story over and over. We pay property taxes, too and what do we get for it? Nothing."

Development also may add to the already harsh flood conditions in Rubonia, north of Palmetto near Interstate 275. The county approved a 350-unit trailer park not far from McMullen Creek, the main drainage outlet from Rubonia's antiquated drainage ditch system.

"I fought that because all of the water from that development is going to go into the creek basin and spill over onto us," he said. "It's going to create a worse problem than we already have."

Development is at the root cause of the Ware's Creek issue, as well. Desoto Square mall was constructed at the creek's headwaters. Agricultural fields were turned into asphalt and the situation on the creek only got worse with further development around Cortez Road and U.S. 301.

Manatee County reports their portion of the creek, from 17th Avenue south, is working well since the flood mitigation project. However, the county's portion takes the runoff and sends rushing water into Bradenton's portion, which sees the bulk of the flooding problems. The county's portion also saw the bulk of the widening so it can handle the initial rush of water during a rain event, but the creek narrows again as it winds into the city.

Some areas of the creek within city limits didn't even get dredged and then you have the portion between Ninth and Seventh avenues where the Corps initially hired, and eventually fired, an air conditioner company to do the work.

Bradenton Public Works Director Jim McLellan said it has remained a problem area.

"It's where we see the largest amount of sedimentation buildup," McLellan said. "This was the case before the Corps project as well and is what led in large part to the formation of the mangrove island that was removed by the Corps. The irony is that the removal of the island basically recreated the conditions that led to the island's formation."

The city budgets $50,000 a year as part of the maintenance agreement with the Corps. McLellan said the city removed 350 cubic yards of sediment in this one area two years ago, "and are planning to dredge this area again this fiscal year."

Manatee County reports a decrease in complaints about flooding, while McLellan said complaints have remained the same since the Corps officially concluded the project.

This story was originally published May 31, 2018 at 2:21 PM with the headline "Hurricane season has anxiety running high in these areas. How much is development to blame?."