August 2025
Q: What is flooding and why does it occur?
A: Flooding is the inundation of water onto normally dry land. It occurs when water bodies such as lakes, rivers, or wetlands rise from excessive rainfall. Although flooding is a natural phenomenon, it can cause substantial damage to homes and businesses, create safety risks, and disrupt everyday life.
Q: How does the District help prevent flooding?
A: The District takes an active role in flood protection, which includes the following activities and programs:
- Water Control Structures: The District’s water control infrastructure encompasses 84 water control structures, 63 miles of canals, eight miles of dams, two reservoirs and 171 secondary drainage systems. These structures help manage water in 45 lakes and portions of three rivers throughout the District. Depending on the location, the structures help provide flood protection, conserve water going into the dry season, manage water levels under normal conditions and prevent saltwater from entering freshwater lakes and streams. These structures only affect a limited number of waterbodies in our region. With over 1000 lakes, 1.5 million acres of wetlands, and hundreds of streams, creeks and canals that flow within our District, most areas have no structures that can affect the natural rise and fall of water levels.
- Regulation: The Environmental Resource Permitting Program requires permittees to demonstrate that new development will not result in flooding or adverse impacts to receiving waters and adjacent lands.
- Watershed Management Program (WMP): The District’s WMP identifies, prioritizes and addresses flood-related water resource issues within a watershed. Information developed through the WMP is used by local governments, the District, and state and federal governments in regulatory and advisory floodplain management programs to help residents make informed decisions about their flooding risks. Visit the District’s website to learn more about the WMP program.
- Stormwater Improvement: The District has historically provided funding to local governments for stormwater projects through the Cooperative Funding Initiative with the overall goal of reducing the peak, extent and duration of flooding for regional projects.
- Hydrologic monitoring: Monitoring rainfall and surface water levels and flow provides needed information to 1) identify areas prone to flooding due to high water-level conditions, 2) model potential flooding impacts based on historical data, 3) assist in effectively operating water control structures to help prevent or lessen flooding, and 4) document hydrologic conditions before, during and after events. The District monitors surface water levels at nearly 800 surface water stations and funds monitoring by the United States Geological Survey at more than 130 additional surface water stations. The District has about 170 active rainfall gauges and collects nearly 6 million rainfall measurements every year. Districtwide gauge rainfall data is supplemented with RADAR rainfall data. Rainfall totals (daily, monthly, year-to-date, and prior 12 months) for the region can be accessed from the District’s Daily Hydrologic Data webpage.
Q: Who should I call if I am experiencing flooding?
A: If you are trapped by floodwater or have a flooding emergency, you should call 911 for assistance. For all other flooding situations, your first contact should be your local government (City or County). Local governments are the primary agencies responsible for state-of-emergency declarations, evacuations and rescue efforts during flood-related disasters. The District provides support to local governments and other agencies during flood events.
Contact your local government about problems related to:
- Maintenance of swales, ditches, cross drains and culverts within the rights-of-way on local government-maintained roads
- Emergency pumping to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public
- Drainage complaints that involve runoff from local government roadways, ditches or easements
- Local government easements or rights-of-way
- Local government declared home flooding and emergencies
Contact the District for drainage complaints or issues related to:
- Stormwater management systems (i.e. retention ponds, swales, etc.) in District-permitted subdivisions and commercial developments; homeowners are advised to contact their HOAs first
- District-maintained structures and canals
Contact the Florida Department of Health for drinking water, septic-related and water quality concerns.
Q: Where can I learn more about flooding information and resources?
A: You can learn more about the District’s role in flooding and find information and resources by visiting WaterMatters.org/Flooding.
Mark Fulkerson, Ph.D., P.E.
Chief Professional Engineer