EDGEWATER, Fla. – Edgewater is taking a new approach to flooding after years of repeated storm damage.
The city has installed five canal-monitoring devices along waterways running through residential neighborhoods, tracking stormwater levels in real time in hopes of getting ahead of the next major storm.
Residents near the canals, like Tamara Henderson on Orange Tree Drive, are still recovering from past storms and say the financial toll continues to mount.
“Insurance premiums are going up, mine just went up again so we’re dealing with that on top of now not knowing if we’re going to have to gut our house out the next time the hurricane comes,” Henderson said.
Henderson described the devastation that prompted the city to act.
“You had six feet of water in people’s homes, not once but twice,” she said.
That flooding occurred during Hurricanes Ian and Nicole in 2022, and again after Hurricane Milton in 2024. While Henderson welcomes the city’s new efforts, she has mixed feelings about the timing.
“Now, they’re doing something about it, but unfortunately, it took all of this to get this done,” Henderson said.
City Engineer Matt Creel says the monitors transmit live data directly to him every quarter hour, giving him an accurate picture of water levels across the canal system.
“Every 15 minutes there’s a laser that shoots down from the light arc system over there and it records the elevation of the water,” Creel said.
Creel says the technology’s potential goes beyond simply tracking water levels and could one day serve as an early warning tool for residents.
“In the future, it can be used as a warning system. So when it peaks to a certain stage, we can hook up sirens and warning lights so that people know there’s high water in the area,” Creel said.
Beyond warnings, Creel says the system will help the city direct water to the correct locations, identify where pumping is needed most, and catch maintenance issues before they become larger problems.
“If the water gets too high we can see the amount of volume over a certain period of time, and that can lead to a maintenance trigger,” Creel said.
The five monitors are currently installed at the canals that see the most drainage. Creel says cost is the primary factor limiting wider deployment — each unit runs approximately $42,000. Despite the price tag, he says the city’s long-term goal is to expand the system to all canals throughout Edgewater.