CUTLER BAY, Fla. – After receiving more than 20 inches of rain in just three days, efforts to pump floodwaters out of a low-lying Cutler Bay neighborhood progressed Wednesday as the likelihood of more rainfall looms.
Miami-Dade County and the South Florida Water Management District have joined the town in providing pumps in the Saga Bay neighborhood.
Saga Bay residents said they’re noticing improvements.
“It’s beautiful coming out here, no water in the road,” Barry Brown said. “It was great, very great.”
Residents said the flooding was unprecedented. Jaqués Michel, who has resided in the Saga Bay area for 27 years, said this is the first time water has risen this high.
“We used to have (flooding) and then after one day, 24 hours at most, the water would just go away,” Michel said.
Noon report
Karen Baez Wallis, who lives near Saga Bay, was dog-sitting for a friend in the neighborhood. She said her son came over to pick up the dog and by time he went to leave the house, the water had risen so much, he couldn’t drive through it.
“He rolled up his pants and then called us to come and help him out,” Baez Wallis said. “He hiked out about a mile and a half.”
The mayors of both Miami-Dade County and Cutler Bay joined other local officials in touring flooded areas Tuesday and called for a permanent solution.
Michel said he worries about upcoming storms, saying pumps are not a permanent fix.
“The thing now is if it rains again today we are back with the same situation,” he said. “They don’t fix the problem. All they are doing is taking water.”
Rafael Casals, Cutler Bay’s town manager, said the low-lying area is particularly prone to flooding.
“The ground water table’s elevated, add the fact that you have a 40, 50 acre lake that’s overflowing to the streets, it’s a perfect combination,” Casals said.
With crews pumping 17,000 gallons of water from the lake, the plan is to monitor levels so the lake doesn’t get too low. Casals said while unfortunate, the situation has provided important information the town can use moving forward.
“Usually, right now, this whole area is being studied for a stormwater master plan and usually you’ll have like hydraulic numbers with a computer program,” Casals said. “This was the real deal.”
Cutler Bay Mayor Tim Meerbott said it’s clear that more needs to be done.
“We’ve been spending millions of dollars each year on stormwater projects, yet we still had this kind of flooding,” Meerbott said. “It’s because of the overwhelming amount of rain we got, but it also tells us we have a lot of work to do.”