Price to protect Fort Lauderdale from intensifying storms: $1.6 billion

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, will need to spend at least $1.6 billion over the next decade to protect its neighborhoods from devastating floods caused by extreme storms, city-hired experts say.

That $1.6 billion is in 2025 dollars, not accounting for inflation.

The longer it takes to do the work, the more the cost will go up.

An outside consultant delivered the news during a recent City Hall meeting, drawing alarm from city officials about the staggering cost of shielding neighborhoods from worsening storms.

“We need to move faster,” Commissioner Ben Sorensen told his colleagues. “When we talk about (taking) 10 years, 12 years to do this, I think we have to move faster. Because every day that passes that we don’t have the infrastructure we need is a risk to our residents.”

Fort Lauderdale got hit with a catastrophic rainstorm in April 2023 that crippled low-lying neighborhoods and forced a temporary shutdown of the nearby Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

After the record-breaking rainstorm, Fort Lauderdale moved quickly to fast-track its plan to fortify low-lying neighborhoods across the city. But it can’t all be done at once.

So far, the city has only finished two of the 25 neighborhoods on its Fortify Lauderdale list.

Mayor Dean Trantalis worries about the sticker shock to come.

Fort Lauderdale would likely be forced to increase stormwater rates to pay for it all. The price per capita: $8,711.54.

Again, that’s in 2025 dollars and will only go up as time goes on, the mayor noted.

“$1.6 billion is a lot of money,” Trantalis said. “It’s something to think about because it’s just going to raise everyone’s tax bill. But also to (Commissioner Sorensen’s) point, you’ll see the little footnote here: Planning level projected costs in 2025 dollars. So the longer we wait, the more these are going to cost.”

Altogether, 25 neighborhoods are slated for millions in upgrades over the next decade or so.

River Oaks and Edgewood, the first neighborhoods that were in line for major drainage upgrades, have been checked off the list. The three-year project was completed in December 2024.

Fortify Lauderdale, the city’s long-term drainage upgrade program, targets the most vulnerable, flood-prone neighborhoods and communities in Fort Lauderdale. The program has been split into two phases.

The projected cost to complete Phase 1: $463 million.

Eight neighborhoods made it onto the Phase 1 list: Edgewood; River Oaks; Dorsey-Riverbend; Durrs; Progresso Village; Victoria Park; Southeast Isles; and Melrose Manors/Riverland.

The projected cost to complete Phase 2: More than $1.1 billion.

Phase 2 has a list of 17 neighborhoods split into 12 distinct projects: Melrose Park; Middle River Terrace; Lauderdale Isles, Oaks River, River Landings and adjoining areas; Riverland Village, Chula Vista and adjoining areas; Poinsettia Heights and Lake Ridge; Shady Banks; Tarpon River and Croissant Park; Sailboat Bend and Riverside Park; South Middle River; Flagler Village; Harbour Inlet/Isles and adjoining areas; and Imperial Point.

The city has tapped experts with Hazen and Sawyer, a leading environmental engineering firm specializing in stormwater infrastructure, to help design the drainage systems and rank the neighborhoods based on need.

Those with the worst flooding were ranked higher than the rest.

To rank the neighborhoods, the experts looked at city flood data, repetitive losses, the number of flooded structures and roadways and neighborhood feedback.

Robert Taylor, a regional manager with Hazen and Sawyer, led a slideshow presentation that included the ranking of neighborhoods in Phase 2 along with the cost for each.

Tarpon River and Croissant Park, ranked seventh, came in with the highest project cost, at $200 million. And Flagler Village, ranked 10th, came in with the lowest, at $10 million.

Cities ranked by need

Melrose Park was ranked first, with a project cost of $103 million. Imperial Point, with a project cost of $74 million, was ranked last. In the middle was Shady Banks, with a project cost of $75 million.

Poinsettia Heights and Lake Ridge, with a project cost approaching $119 million, were ranked fifth.

James LaBrie, one of only two residents to speak at the recent City Hall meeting, told commissioners he and his neighbors would have liked to see Poinsettia Heights ranked higher due to its extreme flooding.

“We are disappointed that we did not make it into the first group of four projects,” said LaBrie, vice president of the Poinsettia Heights Civic Association. “We would like to remind this commission that the residents of Poinsettia Heights have been in documented discussion with the Public Works Department regarding problems with stormwater drainage since the spring of 2021. Our flooding issues were already known when the Fortify Lauderdale project was initiated (in 2023). We’ve been waiting for several years.”

‘It’s about time’

Donna Guthrie, president of the Melrose Park Civic Association, was not able to attend the meeting, but told the South Florida Sun Sentinel she was thrilled to learn Melrose Park had been ranked first among the Phase 2 neighborhoods in need of a major drainage upgrade.

“It’s about time,” she said Friday. “We flood whenever it rains and we’ve been overlooked. We don’t have a drain system in the community. A little bit of rain could be a big thing for us. We are very pleased that we were ranked first.”

There was talk at the City Hall meeting of possibly moving some neighborhoods up or down in ranking based on cost and efficiency.

“If you could get three neighborhoods done for the same money as one, I would not have a problem with it,” Guthrie said. “That makes sense from a budgetary point of view. As long as they don’t move us. As long as we keep our ranking, I’m fine with it.”

Taylor also gave the commission an update on how the drainage projects are going with the Phase 1 neighborhoods.

“The Durrs is substantially complete,” he said. “Dorsey-Riverbend is well underway. I think we are targeted for substantial completion there before the end of the year. Progresso Village we expect substantial completion on that job by this time next year.”

Victoria Park will get underway as soon as the commission approves the contracting bid. Southeast Isles is under design. And Melrose Manors is near completion with design.

Staggered approach

“I think Fort Lauderdale is on track right now, partnering with Hazen and Sawyer and others to execute these projects,” City Manager Rickelle Williams told the commission. “We want to make sure that, No. 1, we’re not ripping up the city all at one time. Because I don’t think that we’d be able to handle it or our neighbors would be able to handle it.”

The funding is another thing that must be considered, she added.

“We don’t want to overextend ourselves and borrow more money than we need all at one time,” Williams said. “So we do have a staggered approach that we’re looking at for every three years to inject more funding into Fortify Lauderdale.”

The city will need to borrow $330 million to help pay for the first set of drainage projects in Phase 2, Williams said.

“Then in the next three years, (the city would borrow another) $350 million,” she added. “Then three years after that, (the city would borrow) another $350 million to get these projects off the ground and completed.”

Trantalis was quick to note that previous city leaders neglected the city’s drainage woes for decades.

“It’s a lot of money to borrow,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that the city of Fort Lauderdale since its inception has ignored the issue of stormwater drainage and other kinds of infrastructure. Trying to make up for the mistakes of the past in a short period of time can be burdensome.”

In the end, the residents will foot the bill.

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