Manatee County official says it is ‘impossible’ that Manatee Dam release flooded Lakewood Ranch homes

MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Manatee County officials gave an up-close look at the Lake Manatee Dam system Wednesday.

Beforehand, they explained how the system was designed to bring a freshwater supply to county residents and emphasized it functioned as designed during heavy rainfall from Hurricane Debby last month.

“We dropped the lake before Debbie to about 36 feet. That is very typical. That is where we went for Irma, that is about where we went for Ian. That is a normal level to go when you are going to get some rain,” said Katie Gilmore with the Manatee County Utilities Department.

Gilmore said during the dry season, they keep Lake Manatee full at 40 feet.

“That means we have the maximum amount of drinking water available,” Gilmore said. “During the dry season we are going to lose several feet.”

But for the wet season, from June to October, Gilmore said they drop the lake to 38 feet.

“That gives us a two foot buffer for those afternoon rains that can come in pretty heavy,” she said.

Debby dropped 17 inches of rain on Manatee County in a 24-hour period. Due to the the rapid rate of rainfall, they released 18 billion gallons of water to protect the integrity of the dam.

People have questioned why the county didn’t drop the water levels more before the storm. Officials explained doing so would have put the county’s drinking water supply at risk as well as fire protection for residents across the county in the months to come.

Residents in Lakewood Ranch, who have never seen flooding in their neighborhoods, were devastated as a result of the storm. They feel the dam release is partially to blame, but county officials say that is not the case.

Director of Natural Resources Charlie Hunsicker used a map to explain. He said the dam flows downstream into the Manatee River and eventually into the Gulf of Mexico. The area where residents flooded, he says, sits in an entirely different watershed.

“From a standpoint of geography, it is impossible,” Hunsicker said. “The river and the discharge did not somehow move into the Braden River watershed to increase the flooding. It was rainfall and I’m going to say that three times. It was rainfall, rainfall and rainfall. I don’t mean to minimize the concerns of residents. The damages that occurred and the suffering that they have gone through, I cannot imagine what it was like and what it still is today, but we cannot hold this reservoir and the management team that is here today responsible for some of that flooding over there. It just didn’t happen.”

Residents told News Channel 8 that they remain skeptical.

Jill Sauchinitz recalls working from home the morning the water was released from the dam. Within a few hours, she had to be rescued from her home with her two small children.

“Within three hours, my entire house is flooded and we are having to be evacuated by fire rescue,” Sauchinitz said. “How can we not think that this was related to the dam? We are all scared to death that this could happen next week or in two weeks because our storm season right now is kind of gearing up for our area. We need more transparency. We demand accountability, transparency and truth.”

Manatee County is in the process of conducting a third-party investigation.

“Just to make sure that we have that analysis by an outside expert, who can look at the underlying cause of flooding that people experienced,” Deputy County Administrator Evan Pilachowski said.

There’s always going to be a storm that goes beyond what your design standard is,” Manatee County Director of Utilities Patrick Shea said. “If we have another event, if we have a 54 inch rainfall event, yes there will be flooding.”

“There’s simply no way to prevent that,” he said.

Shea said, however, there are steps the county is taking to minimize those vulnerabilities.

He said the county could’ve done better at communicating to residents.

“That’s something we’ve been talking about on a daily basis since Debby,” Shea said. “Looking at ways we can get the message out more effectively [and] looking at technologies that we can implement to be more effective in getting that message out to people who could be impacted.”

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.