NORTH PORT, Fla. — On Monday, North Port City Commissioners declared a local emergency following impacts from Hurricane Debby.
The area experienced more than 5 inches of rain during the storm, which caused extensive flooding on many of the city streets.
Mayor Alice White told Fox 4 that the declaration is a way to expedite repairs to city property that may have been damaged during the storm.
Watch Fox 4's Alex Orenczuk report on the City of North Port declaring a local emergency in the wake of Hurricane Debby:
"Declaring an emergency, and having an ordinance for that, allows the city manager to make decisions that involve spending money essentially,” said Mayor White. “He doesn't have to come before the commission to say ‘is it okay if we make this emergency repair and spend this money?"
Additionally, declaring a local emergency helps facilitate reimbursement from the state for storm repairs, said Mayor White.
Mayor White said that roads in North Port are expected to flood during storms, partially due to an outdated storm water management system that was designed when the city was first being developed in the 1960s.
“We have a lot of flooding,” said Mayor White. “Our storm water system, and I use that term loosely, is very overwhelmed. We were given that system from General Development Corp. which plated this whole area over 65 years ago and their idea was to have an above ground water system. That water would go into the swales and the swales would carry that away, but when the swales get overwhelmed it goes into the roads, which was actually part of General Development’s plan, and the roads would then become conduits to move that water along. But of course that makes for flooded roads.”
Meanwhile the North Port Police Department was helping out their neighbors to the north in Sarasota that were inundated with flooding. See pictures they posted on Monday of their rescue efforts on airboats and high water vehicles below.
