$270M Proposed For 76 Projects To Protect Florida From Flooding

OLDSMAR, FL — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to spend $270 million to protect coastal communities from rising sea levels and flooding.

The Republican governor made the announcement Tuesday during a news conference in Oldsmar during which he revealed his Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience Plan, a three-year plan involving 76 infrastructure projects that will not only protect Florida's coast from the impact of the rising sea level but prevent flooding along both the coast and inland areas.

"We want to fortify Florida," he said. "We're a low-lying state; we're a storm-prone state; and we're a flood-prone state. We're not doing any left wing stuff. We're just reacting to the fact that, as we grow, more property is vulnerable to damage and more people will be impacted."

"For too long we've been reactive in our response," said Florida Rep. Chris Latvala, R-Clearwater. "For the first time, we're going to be proactive."

DeSantis said most of the projects will be eligible for local matching funds.

"So you're really looking at over $500 million in investments," he said.

He said the plan is part of Senate Bill 1954, signed by DeSantis earlier this year, which ensures a coordinated approach to Florida’s coastal and inland resilience and provides a structure for resilience that follows the best available science and data while enhancing efforts to protect inland and coastal resources that act as natural defenses against sea-level rise.

“We have done a lot to support Florida water resources and we know infrastructure for clean and strong waterways is important,” said DeSantis. “We also want to fortify infrastructure to make communities across Florida more resilient. In the last legislative session, we worked with Speaker Sprowls, President Simpson and the rest of the Legislature to address this issue in a way that will protect Florida communities and protect our economic livelihood.”

The 2021-22 budget included more than $640 million in state and federal funding to deal with the impacts of sea-level rise, intensified storms, and flooding.

That funding combined with the funding DeSantis announced Tuesday, will give Florida more than a billion dollars to reinforce the state against flooding.

DeSantis said the 76 projects were nominated by counties, cities, water management districts and other agencies in the state. They were then evaluated by the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation based on their risk factors.

“I’m grateful for another critical step forward in resilience efforts as a consequence of Gov. DeSantis and the Florida Legislature’s commitment,” said DEP Secretary Shawn Hamilton, who attended the news conference with DeSantis. “This plan fosters the collaboration required to properly solve the state’s most difficult resilience concerns. It will allow us to continue our aggressive efforts to protect Florida’s natural resources, as well as the recreational and tourism-based economies of our coastal communities.”

“The Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience Plan will serve as a critical framework for statewide efforts to safeguard our wealth of natural resources and coastal infrastructure,” said Florida Chief Resilience Officer Dr. Wes Brooks. “This plan offers a meaningful way forward to begin preserving Floridians’ quality of life in communities across our state well into the future.”

Projects include:

• $4 million for Port St. Lucie water control structure upgrades
• $40 million for the St. Johns River Water Management Area
• $6 million for the ridge to river protection of critical assets in Polk County
• $4.3 million for a water reclamation facility control building in Oldsmar
• $3 million for Barlett Lake improvements in St. Petersburg
• $31 million to construct Allapattah flood improvements in Miami
• $3 million to replace seawalls along Biscayne Bay in Miami
• $342,000 for the Maximo Park Living Shoreline Project in St. Petersburg.

The full list of projects in the plan can be found here.