Miami Mayor Francis Suarez tours flooded area after deluge of rain
MIAMI — Miami Mayor Francis Suarez says the city is addressing a number of problems in flooded areas after a deluge of rain this weekend.
CBS4 caught up with Suarez as he toured one flooded area in Allapattah at NW 32 Street and 21 Court.
"There are people here who texted me about the flooding," said Suarez.
Suarez told CBS4's Peter D'Oench, "This one area needs a big project, $25 Million project, because of the water levels and the elevation is so low. It needs two pumps which will be a big expense. We are also looking at commercial area, like the one between the Adrienne Arsht Center and the FTX Arena. The area is where there is a major FDOT project, and we were concerned about water being pushed in to the Bay. We have been getting a lot of complaints about that."
Suarez said he was also concerned about addressing the flooding problems at the Publix supermarket at Mary Brickell Village and said that could involve a "30-day fix" with the pump that is needed.
Suarez was not in Miami this past weekend. As president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, he was in Reno, Nevada.
"It was kind of like when I was home during the Pandemic, I mean you are in a virtual world. You are never away. You are no more than a text message or a phone call away or a video conference away from being right there," he said.
Suarez also said, "I know you guys focus on things that don't go right. That is understandable. But basically, most things did work and few areas got flooded."
He said high tide during the peak of the flooding caused more problems as well.
The deputy director of operations for the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department says his department was prepared for the storm but the amount of rain overwhelmed the system.
Deputy Director of Operations Joe Cueto said that "we received an amount of rain in the county on Friday and Saturday that some are calling a 50- or 100-year storm. I believe we received 11 to 12 inches of rain in 24 hours. The system performed well and there were no infrastructure failures of equipment failures or power outages and as a result we provided service to our customers. However, because of the great volume of rain in a very short period of time and the associated flooding the system was not built for that much water. We did experience incidents, but we did recover in 24 hours."
There were sewage overflows in a number of areas including 6464 NE 4 Court in Little River and at SW 17 Avenue and S Dixie Highway and at 16626 NW 73 Place in Miami Lakes where two signs said: "Danger: Contaminated Water."
Cueto said he does not expect any serious problems during his current flood watch.
"We are constantly evaluating and monitoring the situation," he said. "Our advice to the public is to refrain from lifting any manhole covers and for the public to reduce water consumption" to lessen the burden on the wastewater system.
