Flooding, Drainage, & Resiliency
Flooding, Drainage, & Resiliency
Riverside/Avondale residents have grown to expect summertime thunderstorms and subsequent flooding of streets, sidewalks, and yards. While flooding is a nuisance and inconvenience to many in our community – it is devastating to others. Storms and heavy rainfall come with living in Florida – but storms are growing in frequency, intensity, and duration. These factors, combined with increased impervious surfaces from people building patios, driveways, pools, and additions along with the loss of some tree canopy in our neighborhood, mean more rainwater is headed to the St. Johns River through an outdated and undersized stormwater drainage system. The St. Johns River is rising and in September, October, and November, is at exceptionally high tide. That means, water won’t drain the way it might other months of the year.
Riverside Avondale Preservation, through its Flooding, Drainage & Resiliency Task Force, is working to elevate drainage issues in our neighborhood with the City of Jacksonville, the State of Florida and others. News 4 Jax recently covered the ongoing flooding issues on Challen, Belvedere, and Avondale Ave. near Park St.
Tracking and documenting ongoing flooding and drainage issues is important for this effort. We ask that residents email pictures from rain events with the time/date/location to info@riversideavondale.org to help RAP maintain an ongoing look at where flooding and drainage issues exist. Check out the Flood Map HERE, with local flooding information from 2020, 2021, and 2022 – RAP Flood Map.
We also encourage residents to use the City’s MyJax Service Request Portal to submit requests directly to the City if they have encountered a damaged or clogged drainage inlet/structure or a roadway cave-in/pothole.
RAP is also a founding member of the Jacksonville Climate Coalition (previously Resilient Jax), an advocacy group supporting resilience and climate change issues impacting Duval County.
The City of Jacksonville Resilience office recently launched a new website where you can find updated maps and more information about resilience funding, projects and more. The project was launched at RAM on August 27 where several local organizations focusing on resiliency joined the City in the announcement. Visit ResilientJacksonville.com for details.
As the peak of hurricane season approaches it is a good idea to install the JaxReady / AlertJax app on your phone to get location-based notifications of weather and emergency events.
We have also prepared the following step-by-step instructional video demonstrating how to easily sign up for these location-based emergency notifications – AlertJax Sign Up Instructions.
Last, in September 2021, RAP and Councilwoman DeFoor hosted a Community Meeting on Crime and Resiliency where we invited Roderick Scott of Flood Mitigation Solutions in to discuss ways homeowners can protect their historic properties. Read more on his website if you missed it or want to learn more: https://floodmitigationsolutions.net/
Check out these resources and stay safe this hurricane season. Protect yourself, your family, your home and your property