A big focus in the Fort Lauderdale mayor's State of the City address Wednesday is on flooding and how to protect the city from high tides and excessive rain, especially after historic flooding a few months ago.
In April, Fort Lauderdale saw 26 inches of rain in five hours.
“It was a wake-up call we need to double our efforts and Fortify Fort Lauderdale is going to be exactly that,” said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis.
The historic flooding destroyed homes and businesses. While the mayor acknowledges that it was a once-in-a-thousand-year occurrence, he admits that the city’s infrastructure is old.
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“We owe it to our community to respond and respond quickly,” Trantalis said.
The city created a plan called Fortify Fort Lauderdale. It’s described by the mayor as an aggressive attempt to improve the infrastructure in the city, prevent backflow from canals, use pumps to push out water and replace or reline old pipes that currently leak.
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In addition to those plans, a new water treatment plant is in the works. Everything is expected to be completed in the next ten years.
“The money is going to come from different funds from state and federal grants along with taxpayer dollars,” Trantalis said.
The city is also focusing on the homeless problem downtown.
“We can’t criminalize homelessness, we can’t put someone in jail just because they are homeless," Trantalis said. "Number one, it doesn’t work, and it’s not helping the problem."
City leaders are now working to identify their needs and connect them to services.
“A lot of young people are moving to our city now. A lot of retirees continue to move into our city. We have to be there, ready for them,” the mayor said.
That full state of the city will take place at The Parker Theater at 7 p.m. Part of the speech will honor people who stepped up during the historic floods.
