St. Pete City Council gives green light for flood relief in Shore Acres

ST. PETERSBURG – St. Petersburg City Council members approved a $7.8 million grant Thursday to cover half the cost of a new stormwater pump system to help with flood damage in Shore Acres.

“This project is going to intercept that stormwater pipe or that big box before it exits and create a pump station so that we can pump over that sea level rise of high tide event,” engineer at the City of St. Peterburg Brejesh Prayman said.

The grant approved only covers half of what is needed for the project, and residents will have to cover the remainder of the $15 million project through stormwater fees.

“It’s a relatively low neighborhood elevation-wise, but one of the other challenges is also sea level rise. By implementing this project, we are intercepting one of our main discharge points of stormwater and diverting it and changing the system into a pump system mitigating that impact of sea level rise,” Prayman said.