May 30, 2018

SFWMD Levees Ready for Hurricane Season
District-maintained flood control system includes 2,000 miles of levees routinely inspected and maintained to protect families and businesses
                                                                                                                  
SFWMD upgraded approximately 71 miles of the East Coast Protective Levee, protecting millions of residents in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties from flooding. This is one of many projects the District has undertaken to ensure the safety of its levees. Click on the image to see a larger version.

West Palm Beach, FL - With the rainy season in full effect and hurricane season fast approaching, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) is hard at work inspecting and maintaining 2,000 miles of levees to protect the region's 8.1 million residents from flooding.

"Our levees are an integral part of our flood protection system," said SFWMD Chief Engineer John Mitnik. "I am proud to assure residents as we head into the hurricane season that our levees,  after having undergone rigorous inspections, are prepared  to ensure the safety of all South Floridians."

SFWMD operates and maintains the regional water management system known as the Central and Southern Florida Project, which was authorized by Congress more than 60 years ago to protect residents and businesses from floods and droughts. This primary system encompasses more than 2,100 miles of canals, 2,000 miles of levees and berms and more than 600 water control structures and 70 pump stations. Community drainage districts and hundreds of smaller neighborhood systems connect to SFWMD's regional system to effectively manage floodwaters during heavy rain events.
 
These crucial levees include those built by SFWMD as well as those built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and later transferred to SFWMD to operate and maintain.
  
SFWMD routinely inspects its levees to ensure their structural integrity and ability to provide flood protection. Many of the highest-priority
Click on the image to view a presentation by SFWMD Chief Engineer John Mitnik about how the District manages levees.
levees in the system have had refurbishment work performed to keep them in optimum condition. 
   
An example of the safety inspection protocols and how well SFWMD's levees perform was evident last summer when heavy rains filled up the water conservation areas whose eastern containment feature is the East Coast Protective Levee that separates the conservation areas from residents of western Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. SFWMD inspectors continually inspected this stretch of levee during those months of high water and found no deficiencies or problem areas.
  
In 2014 and 2015, SFWMD invested nearly $30 million upgrading approximately 71 miles of the East Coast Protective Levee that protects millions of residents in Broward and Palm Beach counties. The upgrades to improve the levee's ability to hold water included flattening levee slopes, raising the levee heights in areas, building seepage berms, replacing older structures and minimizing encroachments on the levee. The work performed by the District addressed the findings of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requirements for the East Coast Protective Levee upgrades. District ad valorem revenues funded the entire project.
   
The upgrades meet all FEMA standards and SFWMD certified the levee to FEMA as being able to withstand a 100-year storm event, which helped avoid potential increases in flood insurance costs for residents living in the levee floodplain. These efforts complement other works in Miami-Dade County, where the District is in the process of raising the banks of the C-4 Canal improving flood protection for approximately half-a-million residents.
Media Contact: 
Randy Smith  |   rrsmith@sfwmd.gov    |  Office: 561-682-2800  |  Cell: 561-389-3386
The South Florida Water Management District is a regional governmental agency that manages the water resources in the southern part of the state. It is the oldest and largest of the state's five water management districts. Our mission is to protect South Florida's water resources by balancing and improving flood control, water supply, water quality and natural systems.

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