FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Fort Lauderdale city leaders jumped a big hurdle in their effort to combat localized flooding and climate change.
City Manager Greg Chavarria, along with Mayor Dean Trantalis and other city officials, signed nearly $100 million in bonds to finance the costs of improvements to the city’s stormwater utility system.
The $98 million will be spread out to neighborhoods, including Edgewood, River Oaks, Melrose Manor, Progresso, Durrs, Dorsey Riverbend, Victoria Park, and Southeast Isles.
This stormwater bond funding comes on the heels of historic flooding the city saw in April 2023. Four months after the storm, hundreds of residents are still barely back on their feet in their recovery.
Greg Brandenburg walked Local 10 News through his home in the Fort Lauderdale’s hard-hit Edgewood neighborhood, having spent months chipping away at repairs.
“We’re just going on with our lives, working,” Brandenburg said.
Brandenburg is living out of a small camper with his wife, teenage daughter and two dogs as they continue to rebuild.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has come and gone and many residents are still dealing with insurance companies months later.
Brandenburg said, he’s lived at the home since 1995 and, like many neighbors, had never seen flooding like that before.
“Twenty-six inches of rain in a few hours, no one has ever experienced that,” Trantalis said.
He continued, “We have heat. We have more intense storms like the flooding in April, as well as hurricanes that are much more intense than they’ve ever been in the past.”
The city has been planning out a major drainage overhaul to keep up with historic climate-related weather events.
Signing for the bonds will now kick those efforts into gear.
Signage and work cones are already seen around neighborhoods impacted by the flooding and now work can continue.