Chronic flooding in Volusia County: It's time to do something about it

Cynthia Kwalwasser
·3 min read
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Volusia County has been plagued by flooding problems for years, and it’s time to do something about it. While the storms we experienced last fall resulted in catastrophic flooding, this is not a new phenomenon or a one-time event.

Daytona Beach neighborhoods east of Nova Road experienced perilous flooding when Tropical Storm Ian hit the area at the end of September.
Daytona Beach neighborhoods east of Nova Road experienced perilous flooding when Tropical Storm Ian hit the area at the end of September.

For Cynthia Slater, a resident of Daytona Beach, this is the fourth time her home has been flooded in 15 years. Over the past few years, members of the FAITH organization have begun to hear many stories like Ms. Slater’s at meetings about community problems in our homes and congregations.

FAITH is a direct-action organization made up of 29 member congregations across Volusia County from diverse religious traditions and racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds. Together, we address justice issues in the community by leveraging the power of concerned citizens to hold our elected officials accountable for fair and equitable policies.

More:Daytona Beach residents fed up with persistent flooding

More:After 15 years of trying, Daytona Beach getting $3 million for flood mitigation study

After two years of research with local and national experts, environmental scientists, city and county staff, and elected officials, FAITH’s Flooding Committee is convinced that there are a number of steps we can take to minimize the impact of flooding in our communities.

First, we need updated flood forecasting. Many of those who flooded last fall did not have flood insurance because they were not deemed high-risk on current FEMA flood maps. Virginia Bennett was never told to expect flooding or to be required to get flood insurance at her home, but in Hurricane Ian, she and her son were both completely flooded out in their South Daytona neighborhood.

Cynthia Kwalwasser
Cynthia Kwalwasser

The same story was true for many of her friends in Port Orange. Because of stories like Virginia’s, FAITH is advocating that all of our municipalities take part in the state’s Resilient Florida Program. The first step is a flood vulnerability assessment, updating our flood maps and identifying our infrastructure’s weakest points.

Second, we need to make a big investment in our infrastructure. Flood vulnerability assessments recommend the most effective infrastructure improvement projects for each city’s unique challenges. Then, after the assessment is complete, cities will qualify for millions of dollars in state improvement grants to make these projects a reality. Resilient Florida grants totaled well over $100 million in 2022 alone. We believe that our community deserves this investment in our future.

Finally, we need to build smarter for the future. As our community grows, development has an important role to play in our flooding problem. We can build irresponsibly in ways that make flooding worse, or we can incentivize new developments to be built with flooding mitigation in mind. Therefore, FAITH is researching better policies for new construction.

Recently, 175 concerned citizens came out to the FAITH Rally at Coronado Community UMC in New Smyrna Beach to get organized and plan FAITH’s Annual Action Assembly. If you want to be a part of the solution, we invite you to join us on Monday, March 27th at 6:30 p.m. at Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church in Port Orange.

At our Action Assembly, we will be asking our county and city leaders to make flooding a priority. So far, County Council members Don Dempsey, Troy Kent, and Jake Johnansson have committed to participate. We are hoping that County Chair Jeff Brower decides to meet with us and come to the Action Assembly - we know that flooding is an important issue to Mr. Brower and we want to work with him. Alone we are limited in what we can accomplish, but together we are powerful.

Please come up to show your elected officials that you are concerned about these problems and the many people impacted in our community! Learn more at faithvolusia.org.

Cynthia Kwalwasser, DeLand Quakers

FAITH is a direct-action organization made up of 29 member congregations across Volusia County from diverse religious traditions and racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia County flooding persists, action needed to address problem