WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. – After an initial round of relief, some homeowners in Winter Springs living near the city’s multiple clogged creeks, and thus the ongoing fear of flooding during heavy rainstorms, are disappointed.
News 6 reported last week the city had finally started its long-awaited and much-anticipated city-wide creek cleanout to allow stormwater to run off in hurricanes and even afternoon rainstorms.
The creeks function as a network of natural drainage canals.
[Video: Long-awaited Winter Springs creek cleanouts finally begin]
Since then, some neighbors learned the cleanout is limited and worry it won’t do enough to stop future flooding.
The creek cleanout will continue over the next several weeks in two parts.
First, 30,000 feet of debris removal: Cutting down and pulling out vegetation, trash or anything else blocking the flow of water up and down the six main creeks that run through Winter Springs and empty into Lake Jessup.
The debris removal will allow stormwater to run through the creeks and culverts instead of up and over them, like they did during Ian in 2022, flooding neighborhoods around Gee Creek and other spots in the city.
After debris removal, the second part will start: sediment removal.
Crews will bring in backhoes to dig out sand that has built up and left the creeks narrower and shallower.
Neighbors assumed, just like debris removal, sediment removal would run the entire length of the creeks. Not exactly.
Winter Springs City Sediment Removal maps show crews will only dig out sand at nine locations across the city where bridges pass over the creeks, just a few feet into the creeks on the sides of the bridges.
To see the sediment removal map, see below:
Winter Springs City Sediment Removal map by Jacob Langston on Scribd
Debbie Henny’s house on Holiday Lane, across from Gee Creek, was filled with water during Hurricane Ian.
“We did swim in it literally,” Henny said.
[Video: Long-awaited Winter Springs creek cleanouts finally begin]
Henny was disappointed to hear sediment cleanout will extend just a few feet into the creeks surrounding the bridges and culverts.
“They need to be deeper,” Henny said. “They need to clean out all the sediment, that needs just needs to be deeper.”
City spokesperson Matt Reeser said the City cannot remove any more sand than that.
“Due to environmental protections for these creeks, we aren’t allowed to take any action beyond the designated areas, which are at the points where sediment accumulates at crossings and only to their natural depth,” Reeser said. “The sediment is a result of erosion upstream that has washed downstream, reducing the capacity of the creeks at culverts and bridges.”
Reeser said he expected several feet of sediment removal and 30,000 feet of debris removal will significantly improve stormwater flow during the next rain event.
City commissioners are discussing a yearly creek cleanout, Reeser said, and are figuring out how to fund it.
The current cleanout is being funded through a grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and will continue through the next several weeks.