Flooding is top of mind for Cape Coral residents and city leaders as we get closer and closer to hurricane season.
At Wednesday's Committee of the Whole meeting, Cape Coral’s building official presented how the city can improve flood mitigation.
Emergency Management Director Ryan Lamb tells us they’re working on 20 projects right now to make Cape Coral more resilient towards flooding.
"We're also looking at infrastructure upgrades, like replacing and upgrading some of our weirs, which lets out the freshwater during the rainy season," Lamb said.
Another thing city leaders are doing is making sure they maintain their FEMA flood insurance discount. Recently, a few Cape Coral council members went to Washington, DC, to talk to lawmakers.
"Our residents might see inspectors out in the field and be getting a letter talking about how much damage they potentially sustained due to Hurricane Milton," Lamb said. "That's all part of the process of complying with the National Flood Insurance Program."
It's been an issue for Pat Isherwood, who has lived in Cape Coral for almost 30 years.
"It floods here, and it'll flood all the way down the street," he said.
His house along SW 14th Street floods every year, and his house sits low.
"It'll get wet right at the end of June, and around October is when it'll start to dry out again," he said.
Lamb is hoping homes will build up, through a process called Elevate Florida.
"If a home is built below the base flood elevation, to get those properties elevated or to have new construction in those sites that do comply with that base flood elevation," he said.
If you have any questions concerning flooding, the city’s Hurricane Expo is coming up in April.
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