The release of 18 billion gallons of water from Lake Manatee didn't cause homes to flood during Hurricane Debby, Manatee County officials said Wednesday. Rather, they blamed the heavy rainfall that overwhelmed rivers and stormwater systems.
Faced with lingering outrage from residents whose homes flooded in the storm, Manatee County invited reporters to tour the dam designed to manage water levels in Lake Manatee, where about two thirds of the county's drinking water originates.
Director of natural resources Charlie Hunsicker said he is 99.9% certain that the release of water from Lake Manatee did not cause homes to flood in western Manatee County in areas near Lakewood Ranch and by the Braden River.
"From a standpoint of geography, it's impossible. So the river and the discharge did not somehow move into the Braden River watershed to increase the flooding. It was rainfall. May I say that three times: rainfall, rainfall and rainfall," Hunsicker said.
Around 17 inches of rain fell in the area during Debby, which passed by as a tropical storm on Aug. 5.
Hunsicker explained that the dam on Water Line Road in Bradenton is "not designed with the height necessary to hold back flood waters. It is designed to moderate between 36 to 40 to 42 feet of elevation above sea level. The top of the reservoir is about 50 feet," he said.
Each time a storm is approaching, Manatee County officials meet to decide how much to lower the levels of the lake.
Let out too much, and drinking water can get scarce, he said.
"People say, how come we couldn't have anticipated that [rain] and dropped the level a lot lower and created more flood storage? You have to be gambling at that moment with meteorology," Hunsicker said.
Deputy County Administrator Evan Pilachowski said Manatee County is bringing in an outside expert to analyze several nearby watersheds, and look at the underlying cause of the flooding during Debby.
"We can't prevent the rain from falling. We can certainly improve communications to residents about where we expect to see impacts, and we can lower the level of the lake leading into an event like that, like we always do," he said.
