NORTH MIAMI, FLA. (WSVN) - A flooding nightmare is making waves in North Miami, as residents brace for another storm season, but two homeowners are taking steps to make sure they’re prepared when the rains come.
George Faehnle has owned property on Northeast 109th Street, west of Biscayne Boulevard, for three years.
“I get anxious, because I know that I have to go through another season of wondering what’s going to happen next,” he said.
Each time there’s heavy rain, Faehnle said, the street turns into a river, and the homes flood out.
“It’s terrible. Water goes knee-deep into your property, everything gets damaged, you have to tear up all the walls, and your appliances get ruined,” he said.
It’s not just rainwater, but something far more foul: septic water.
“It was dirty, and you can imagine how many infections you’ll get from it,” he said.
With the damage comes a hefty price tag.
“Easily $200,000 to $300,000 in damages,” said Faehnle.
Faehnle’s neighbor, Aaron Cardelino, is dealing with the same challenge.
“It’s north of $50,000 to get the house back running,” he said
Working together, Cardelino and Faehnle have sent countless pleas for help to local government. They also created a group chat for their street for quick communication.
“Everybody goes into emergency mode. People have lost their jobs because they have to lose five, six days of work to fix their house,” said Cardelino.
Last October, the two men took it a step further. spending thousands of dollars on their own stormwater pumps.
“Aaron went ahead and ran the hose. If it wasn’t for him, we’d be flooded,” said Faehnle.
“Well, we actually took matters into our own hands, trying to deploy pumps that we bought at a hardware store, with hoses that we ran 800 feet, all the way to Biscayne, where there is a proper drain system,” said Cardelino.
Cardelino and Faehnle believe the reason for the flooding to be faulty stormwater pumps and the existing septic system.
While they’re grateful that the county is quick to place temporary pumps during heavy rainfall, they feel a more permanent solution is needed.
“From the city and the county, the communication has been open. We’ve been able to get response from them, [but] they don’t give us a finite plan on how the problem is gonna be resolved,” said Cardelino. “They just tell us they’re working on it, but without any effective actions.”
As for converting the neighborhood from septic to sewer, that’s a whole other task, due to aging infrastructure.
Miami-Dade County has its Connect to Protect program, which helps convert neighborhoods like Cardelino and Faehnle’s from septic to sewer.
Tuesday night, a spokesperson for the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department released a statement. It reads in part:
“The improvements to the Biscayne Shores stormwater pump stations (Stations 1 and 2) are being planned through a contract that will be managed by the Department of Transportation and Public Works. The construction contract is expected to begin later this summer.
Regarding septic-to-sewer conversion, the project submitted for funding under the FDEP Water Quality Improvement Grant program was unfortunately not selected this year – making it the second consecutive year it was not awarded. As a result, there is currently no active project underway to extend sewer service to Biscayne Shores.
While we currently do not have grant funding available for septic-to-sewer projects, we want to reassure you that we remain committed to improving infrastructure for this community as we work toward long-term solutions. We expect the situation to improve significantly once the upgrades to the stormwater pump stations are completed.”
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