FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Residents of a Fort Lauderdale neighborhood have had a long week dealing with king tides and nearly impassable roadways.
As king tides inundated much of South Florida over the past week, with the worst of it coming on Tuesday due to the full moon, residents along Coconut Isle Drive have experienced a uniquely frustrating few days of sitting water with nowhere to go.
“Absolutely the worst year ever for king tides,” said Kris, a local area resident.
Officials have been consistently advising drivers to avoid flooded roads, as taking on too much water, especially for cars that sit closer to the ground, can lead to stalling out.
For Kris, that problem comes up at the end of her driveway.
“I have a small car and I had to call my husband to come home, drive in his SUV to my doctor’s appointment,” said Kris.
She’s not alone in this problem — many of her neighbors face similar issues.
Those issues are so common that it’s earned Coconut Isle Drive its own unofficial nickname.
“They call this street ‘Disaster Isle’ now,” said area resident Ali. “I’ve been living here nine years. I’ve lost three cars on this street alone.”
Kris told 7News this stems from how the neighborhood’s drainage system works.
Unlike most of the city, stormwater drains along Coconut Isle Drive don’t lead back out to the ocean. Instead, they make up a closed system with a pump at its center.
“We’re like a bath tub,” said Kris.
The problem plaguing them is it falls on the city to essentially open the drain and allow the overflowing drains to finally clear out. Until that happens, many homes sit in the middle of makeshift islands.
“[The water] has no place to go,” said Kris.
“This is a gigantic toilet bowl that somebody in the city has to turn on,” said a resident.
While they’ve never had any issues contacting officials to help out, the response times to address it vary drastically, sometimes leaving them waterlogged for several hours.
“We have to wait until the city comes out and they’re very nice, but the other day, we waited all day,” said Kris.
Those extended delays make some worry about what they would do if an emergency came up and they had no way to move their vehicles.
“I’m actually on trauma call next week. I was worried [on] how I’m gonna go to work for an emergency, you can go look, I have a big 4×4,” said Ali.
With many of them either forced to rent vehicles better suited for high water levels or stay stuck at home, residents wonder why the city has not looked into making fixes to this system.
“I don’t know why they don’t automate it, it’s so simple,” said Ali.
7News has reached out to city officials about why the sitting water all around Coconut Isle Drive hasn’t moved with the return of low tides but have not heard back.
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