The St. Petersburg City Council unanimously approved a $147,451 contract with Jacobs Engineering Group on September 24 to study the installation of flood gates that could protect multiple neighborhoods from tidal and storm surge flooding.

The project focuses on Shore Acres, the city’s lowest-lying neighborhood, but would benefit several interconnected areas, including Edgemoor, Placido Bayou, Euclid Heights, Harris Park, Allendale, and parts of Northeast Park, Magnolia Heights, and Snell Isle. According to Councilmember Mike Harting, the project impacts “damn near a quarter of the entire city.”

Officials have identified bridges along Canal #7 at 46th Avenue and Bayou Grande Boulevard Northeast as potential locations for the gates, which would operate remotely or via sensors similar to systems used in New Orleans. The city is also evaluating whether a new Overlook Bridge at Smacks Bayou could accommodate a flood gate.

Engineering and Capital Improvements Director Brejesh Prayman explained that stormwater channels along 54th and 45th Avenues North carry water from as far west as 16th Street through Shore Acres to Tampa Bay. Each six inches of water in these channels represents 52 million gallons of storage capacity. Closing the gates during storm surge events would allow the stormwater system to operate while preventing surge-related flooding.

Councilmember Brandi Gabbard, whose Northeast St. Petersburg district is 95% within a coastal high-hazard area, expressed concerns about ensuring the project doesn’t simply shift flooding problems from one neighborhood to another. Prayman acknowledged this concern, stating administrators “don’t want to push the problem from one spot to another.”

Most of the impacted communities experienced flooding from Hurricane Helene’s storm surge and Hurricane Milton’s rainfall. Jacobs will analyze designs, locations, benefits, risks, and potential environmental impacts as part of the study.

Gabbard emphasized that as a coastal community, St. Petersburg cannot completely prevent flooding, adding that residents “all have to learn to adapt and get really prepared for the future, which is living with this water.”

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(Image credit: Max Chesnes)

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