Residents in Northwest Florida should receive some additional flood and storm surge protection because of a project approved by the Northwest Florida Water Management District Governing Board this week.
The board agreed to spend $406,000 dollars to enhance the District’s flood and storm surge warning network which records and transmits continual, real-time rainfall, water level and stream flow data from sites around the panhandle.
The money will allow the addition of 33 real-time hydrologic monitoring stations in Jefferson, Leon, Wakulla, Franklin, Gulf, Bay and Calhoun counties.
Of the proposed sites, 21 are located at existing monitoring stations that will be upgraded to real-time data collection and 12 will be sited at new locations.
The information from the monitoring stations will also now be available on-line to Emergency managers, local officials and the public so they can evaluate for themselves impending flood conditions and the potential for additional emergency measures.
The expanded program should help officials decide which roads to close and when to issue advance warnings so that people have time to protect property and leave the area.
It will also help local officials coordinate evacuation of the elderly, disabled or people who have difficulty getting out.
The funding for the expanded project includes over 300 thousand dollars from the Federal Emergency Management Administration; that money became available after severe thunderstorms and flooding impacted North Florida late last year.
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