EDGEWATER, Florida. — Edgewater Mayor Diezel DePew on Saturday urged city residents affected by recent flooding to contact him for assistance.
In a statement on social media, DePew promised that Edgewater City Council members are committed to solving the flooding problem and asked affected residents to contact him by email or by phone at 386-843-2639 if they need assistance.
“My deepest sympathies go out to the residents affected by this evening’s rain event. This city is aware of this and Environmental Services is still in the process of assessing and learning from what happened,” DePew wrote. “Let us know, we cannot allow this to continue.”
DePew’s post included photos of flooding in a neighborhood believed to be Florida Shores, showing flooded streets being traversed by people in kayaks and ATVs. One home had a flood barrier installed in its garage.
News 6 visited the neighborhood Sunday afternoon. You can still feel the water as you walk through the yard of Brant Burchett and Allison Roberts.
The water that soaked her porch, garage and almost everything near 34th Street and Umbrella Tree Drive in Edgewater after a heavy downpour Saturday night.
“It’s terrifying to see everything you’ve worked for your whole life potentially washed away,” Roberts said.
The couple said even catfish and eels swam through their garden.
“There’s nothing you can do about it, and that makes you feel helpless,” Roberts said.
Several other neighbors shared these photos with us and said they had not experienced flooding like this since Hurricane Ian.
Many people in the Florida Shores community believe that their flooding problems are due to the large amount of new construction and development.
“I understand that everything is changing and growth is happening, but sometimes we need to put the brakes on a little bit. Do some more thorough studies. Just sit back and analyze the problems that these changes can bring,” Burchett said.
Mayor DePew said five to seven homes were affected by flooding this week.
Their last stormwater management master plan was implemented in 2014, but the mayor believes it is now time to update it.
“We’ve done a hazard analysis for Edgewater and we’re actually working on a stormwater plan. After that, I would say that’s just not enough. We need to look at how to manage resources and we need to look at whether we might need to bring in some consulting engineers from the state to look at this issue,” Depew said.
Burchett and Roberts plan to discuss their concerns at their next meeting with city leaders.
DePew said anyone will be allowed to come on stage and make public comments during Monday’s 6 p.m. meeting here at City Hall, but they must relate to an agenda item.
A special meeting will be called at a later date to discuss the flooding exclusively.
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