Fort Lauderdale residents say they can’t wait until 2028 for flood fix as streets sit underwater
By Bri Buckley, Abby Dodge
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (WFOR) — Flooding in Fort Lauderdale left parts of the Victoria Park neighborhood underwater for hours on Thursday.
“Five minutes of heavy rain and it immediately floods,” resident Areeb Naseer said.
Naseer has lived on Northeast Eighth Avenue for nearly 10 years. He said water comes up and out of storm drains instead of flowing into them during heavy rain, leaving roads flooded—sometimes for days—before draining.
“Because there’s so much standing water, our driveway has sunken in a little bit as well,” Naseer said.
A stormwater improvement project is underway in Victoria Park to reduce flooding and improve drainage. The project includes 43,000 feet of stormwater pipe, 360 drainage structures and a new pump station. Construction began in January and is expected to be completed in early 2028.
However, Naseer’s neighbor Jennifer Duncan said residents cannot wait that long.
“There’s got to be something on an acute basis to mitigate some of this damage,” Duncan said. “I mean, it might not be the permanent fix, but there has to be something that has to be done. You can’t live, you know, a year and a half with this.”
A spokesperson for the City of Fort Lauderdale told CBS News Miami that staff members are currently identifying additional resources that can be deployed to known flooding hot spots, including Victoria Park. The city also pointed to higher-than-normal king tides that exacerbated the flooding.
Fort Lauderdale also recorded its wettest September on record, according to the National Weather Service.
Still, neighbors question how much longer they are expected to live with the standing water.
“This is definitely not sustainable, not suitable for this neighborhood; it really makes things difficult,” Naseer said.
Benny Ergas, who lives in the Southlake area of Hollywood, placed a large sign outside his home that reads ‘Wake zone, please slow down’ for drivers to see.
“It’s just there for decoration,” he said. “Most of the people ignore it.”
Ergas said water inched halfway up his driveway Thursday. The simple wheel of an SUV could push water into his garage.
“The lack of consideration from neighbors because we are all neighbors here,” he said. “When I drive in water, I make sure I drive slowly.”
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