LAKE WORTH BEACH, Fla. — A million-dollar project is underway in Lake Worth Beach to help with flooding issues along 18th Avenue South.
"With king tides and the provincial rains that we get in September, yeah we have a really strong flooding issue,” Theodore Belloise, who has only lived in his house for four months on 18th Avenue South, said.
He said in his short stay, water has flooded his yard and gotten dangerously high to his garage.
"We're looking forward to obviously infrastructure improvements that you know improve our most valuable asset, which is our house," Belloise said.
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Lake Worth Beach city commissioners approved a $1,000,097 project to replace a water pump that is placed at the end of 18th Avenue with a new and updated pump.
The money is partially funded by grants and and city budget.
"The stormwater infrastructure is being absolutely tested by the precipitation and the amount of rainfall that we've been getting in a short amount of time," Lake Worth Beach Commissioner Reinaldo Diaz said. "We're really just doing the best we can to fix, to take care of the worst of these areas as soon as possible."
Currently, if there’s high tide or a lot of rain the city brings in a portable pump to take the water from 18th Avenue to the Lake Worth Lagoon.
"There's a pump that has been pushed to its limits and neighbors there have been very eager to replace that pump for a few years now and we're finally able to start that work and get it accomplished this year," Diaz said.
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The new pump will be permanently placed at the end of the street.
"Every time it rains, we all have to look out our window to see what's happening because it is an issue here," 18th Avenue South resident Carlos Ramirez said. "I'm proactive. I let water out of the pool. I keep sandbags on the side."
Ramirez said he's lived in the area for 30 years and has seen the water go up as high as his knees.
Purchases for the new pump have already been made and the project is expected to be completed at some point in the middle of 2024.
"We’re at a point where a lot of infrastructure needs to be updated," Diaz said. ”They didn’t factor in nor did they have the capability to even comprehend things like sea level rise and climate change. These things that are really pushing our infrastructure to the limits."
The city is looking into funding for a possible second pump at Ninth Avenue South, as well as stormwater management projects throughout the city and shoreline improvement projects.
Diaz said there are methods that can be done beyond infrastructure improvements to alleviate the flooding and is looking into things like landscaping code to encourage more plants and less pavement on properties.
"All that green area if you will is going to work wonders and take in a lot of that water as opposed to something that's completely paved over and pushing that water into the street and into the storm management," Diaz said.