(PENSACOLA)-- Escambia County needs to invest in infrastructure drainage.
Flood Defenders - Panhandlers, Chris Curb, reminds county and city officials of the same meeting after meeting. Curb's 25-year career as a stormwater engineer with the Escambia County Engineering Department ended after Hurricane Sally, but his concern for residents has not.
"The problem is they've (local officials ) been neglecting drainage infrastructure for so many years," Curb said. "When I left the county, they probably had $100 million in drainage projects identified that were unfunded."
Curb should know.
"I was in charge of stormwater budgets and the whole stormwater program," Curb said. "Anything that came out of the county pretty much in those 25 years that dealt with stormwater, I knew about it."
(Photo: American Flood Coalition website)
It was not long before he landed a post for the American Flood Coalition (AFC) policy Board Chairman, Jay Faison, asked Curb to spearhead Flood Defenders - Panhandle Group to sitr local flood advocacy support.
"We set up a web page, Facebook page, and came up with a plan of action," Curb said, adding that the county must be more prepared. "They have to protect the people with good regulations, good flood maps."
That's where money comes in. You can't build without adeqaute drainage infrastructure.
"You spend $1 million on infrastructure, you get back $6 to $8 million in returns when you're doing drainage infrastructure," Curb said. "You have to maintain and repair what you got, and that's basically been what I've been doing for the last 5 years, steering neighborhoods down to the board, trying to get them to change their policiies and regulations."
Take the Windrose subdivision off of Fairfield Drive in the Bayou Marcus Basin, for example.
"I have a good friend, Dee Redliski, who's been working with flood defenders for the whole 5 years; she was one of our first flood defenders," Curb said. "She got the neighbors together, and we went up to the board of county commissioners."
She returned, up to 61 meetings. Her persistence with Curb's buyout counseling worked. Curb has seen up to 49 home buyout grants approved, which convert former residential properties into natural conservation lands by restricting further development on the purchased lots after demolition of all lot improvements. Dee & Bret Redliski were the first buyout under FEMA's Hazard Grant Mitigation Program, associated with Hurricane Sally, while ongoing buyouts & drainage infrastructure projects are still ongoing.
"She's actually moved to Brevard County after they bought her & Bret's home out and demolished it," Curb said, adding that a $1.3 million study came with the buyout for a drainage study in the basin where she lived. "They did a little creek debris removal project and restored a little bitty portion of the creek where there were some blockages."
More buyouts, drainage infrastructure projects, and restoration are needed, as seen in the detailed list Curb kept up with even a couple of years after his County employment. Dozens of lines show some projects worse than others, but all in need of restoration.
(Photo: Florida Defenders Panhandlers Excel spreadsheet of existing unfunded, funded flooding projects)
"The Florida Panhandle regioan gets the highest annual rainfall in the nation, along with the regionn stretching over to Mobile, AL; it was the best place to start with flood defenders," Curb said, adding he goes beyond Escambia County into Santa Rosa, with a little activity in Okaloosa & Bay Counties..
While Curb encourages elected officials to pay attention, he also works with candidates who want to prevent flooding in their regions if elected. Last election, Curb and Florida State House District 2 Candidate Kim Kline discussed flooding in low-income areas, including the Forrest Creek Apartments, yet another unfunded long standing flood problem area in Escambia County, with multiple residents displaced in every major storm event.
(Photo: Facebook post for April 23 Beach Haven flooding discussion)
Curb encourages other flood-prone residents to step up to the public podium and confront county commissioners.
"The American Flood Coalition does state and federal lobbying, influencing funding opportunities like Florida Department of Environmental Protection flood resilience grants, while Flood Defenders handle local advocacy work," Curb said. "AFC pushed our legislators to put money into flood control projects and flood resilience, and those grants actually trickle down to the same counties that I'm speaking up in."
Curb also uses social media, gaining nearly 4k members at the Florida Defenders Panhandlers Facebook page. Last week, Curb gained half a dozen members, proving just how real the problem is here, and we are currently in drought conditions with membership still growing.
(Photo: Florida Defenders Panhandlers Facebook post)
Curb does not represent the AFC, as they have a policy board, but "we work kind of hand in hand, supporting better flood control.
"I do share their message," Curb said. "I just help the neighborhoods understand who to talk to and what they need to say and how they need to say it."
OpGov.News will follow Curb, reporting every few weeks on Flood Defenders Panhandle’s progress and updates, continually informing residents here on recent updates and public input.
For more information on the group, visit the Facebook page, which encourages residents to post photos of flood damage and reach out to Curb for assistance.
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