Flooding of the East Drainage Ditch occurs in the vicinity of Orange Avenue, Blair Stone Drive, and Fleetwood Street. Although the floodwaters are not very deep, they cover streets and yards and can flood garages, cars, basements, and lower floors. Flooding also occurs due to local drainage problems and in several closed basins in our City. Flooding in all of these areas can come with little warning. Floodwaters of the St. Augustine Branch, a tributary of the Central Drainage Ditch, have been observed to leave its banks and flood Franklin Boulevard within one-half hour after a thunderstorm started.
Flooding can be dangerous.
Even though the floodwaters appear to be moving slowly, a flood two feet deep moving at three feet per second can knock people off their feet or float a car off the road. If your property is in the floodplain, the odds are that someday your property will be damaged by flooding. Your property may be high enough that it has not flooded recently. However, it can still be flooded in the future because the next flood could be worse. The following gives you some ideas of what you can do to protect yourself and your property.