Water recently returned to the streets of Key Largo’s Stillwright Point community, but not to the level residents witnessed in years past.
Vehicles and delivery trucks traversed up and down a mostly dry North Blackwater Lane on Nov. 9. A small portion of the road by Sexton Way gathered water, but for the most part, vehicles weren’t needing to pull off the road to let others pass to avoid the saltwater spray.
North and South drives in Stillwright Point, as well as Center Lane, were also mostly dry. Sexton Way, which historically sees the worst conditions, saw the most water on Nov. 9 as vehicles traveled slowly.
In her Jeep, Emilie Caldwell Stewart headed out from her home on North Blackwater Lane during the early afternoon of Nov. 9. At that time, she said it was the least amount of flooding she’s seen in the neighborhood since before 2015. The first flooding was seen Oct. 30. Caldwell Stewart said the water receded but returned this past weekend.
“North Blackwater has been great,” she said. “There were three days I had to drive through water. It hasn’t been bad.”
The next day, Nov. 10, was a different story. Caldwell Stewart said water returned to the streets of Stillwright at higher levels than witnessed on Oct. 30. Water filled a majority of Sexton Way and a lengthy portion of North Blackwater Lane.
By Thursday, Nov. 11, a majority of roads inside the Stillwright Point community were inundated with water. Caldwell Stewart said it’s the most flooding she’s seen in her neighborhood this year.
“We were holding our breaths that this year we would not be flooded since we were not at the start of September,” she said.
In 2019, residents saw saltwater inundating streets for more than 90 days — the result of a king tide. Residents didn’t see dry roads until late November that year, when water was more than a foot deep, causing hardship for residents in the community. Flooding in Stillwright Point in 2020 lasted a little over 70 days, and it prompted the county to try out 24-inch-high flood barriers to mitigate rising water levels.
Jon Rizzo, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service out of Key West, attributed the lack of saltwater flooding in low-lying neighborhoods to the lack of high pressure systems on the East Coast, which produce northeast winds, and prolonged nor’easter-type events in the southeast U.S. He also noted a lack of heavy rains in the area.
“Sometimes rainy seasons end with a bang — it’s a 5- to 10-inch rain event — and that thankfully hasn’t happened,” he said. “We’re easing out of the rainy season gently. We know with low-lying areas and high tide that rain can’t get into the ocean. It has to wait.”
Rizzo said residents living in areas that are prone to king tide should take caution when they see puddles on the street during sunny days. Avoid driving through the saltwater. If motorists can’t, be sure to rinse underneath the car.
In June, Monroe county commissioners voted to go after funding to pay for road projects within Key Largo’s Stillwright Point and Twin Lakes communities. Approval came after a presentation by Judith Clarke, county engineering director, and Emilio Corrales, consultant with HDR Engineering, showed sea level rise plus king-tide level predictions for neighborhoods up to 2045.
During an Oct. 20 meeting of the board of county commissioners, Corrales provided a roadway vulnerability analysis and capital plan update that outlined 152 miles of county-maintained roadway vulnerable to rising waters by 2045. Project costs to address the at-risk roads equates to around $1.8 billion.
The project area with the most proposed roadway elevation increase is Stillwright Point, Corrales said.
The county has sent in funding requests to the state and federal governments for resiliency projects. Lisa Tennyson, Monroe County legislative affairs director, said all funding requests are pending. Funding requests were made by the county to the state’s new resilience grant program for planning, engineering and design for the Stillwright Point project.
Tennyson said the state’s Department of Environmental Protection is currently vetting and ranking all submitted projects.
“We are all anticipating that DEP will create a ranked list and submit to the legislature sometime prior to the start of session. It’s unclear what happens next,” Tennyson said. “The legislature may fund the first $100 million of projects on the list, or less. Or, they will utilize some or all of the $500 million in ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds it allocated to resilience to fund even more projects.”
