Fort Lauderdale stormwater pumps tested by heavy rain as residents prepare for king tides in flood-prone neighborhoods

Residents in Fort Lauderdale's Edgewood and River Oaks neighborhoods, long vulnerable to severe flooding, closely watched city stormwater pumps operate during heavy rainfall in September.

Pump station number 8 was put to work clearing stormwater from both neighborhoods and discharging it into the New River. The station features four pumps capable of moving up to 52,800 gallons of water per minute, designed to handle a 10-year, 1-day storm event—roughly 8.5 inches of rain over a 24-hour period.

"Last month we pumped over 50 million gallons," said Roberto Bettencourt, a Fort Lauderdale city engineer. "This month, we've already pumped over 9 million gallons".

When September's heavy rain fell near the River Oaks home of Lance Peterman, water began building up in the low point of the neighborhood.

"We've seen a little bit of results, but it seems like that they need to have somebody to call there and turn the pumps on," Peterman said. "But when they did get the pumps on, the water level did go down".

Bettencourt explained that the system turns on automatically and can also be managed remotely if issues arise.

Resident Kitty McGowan remains cautiously optimistic about the neighborhood's defense against flooding.

"It has helped, and luckily, the rain as much as we had, it would come in a big globe of rain and then stop for a while, so it did allow the pumps to catch up," McGowan said.

However, McGowan noted that stronger challenges remain ahead.

"I don't really believe it's been truly tested when we have like a king tide, like we're possibly gonna have to deal with this week," she said.

City officials warned that high-capacity pumps cannot prevent all temporary standing water during intense storms.

"We can't promise that," Bettencourt said regarding whether streets will remain entirely free of water. "What we do say is that we reduce the duration of any ponding".