Rotonda West Flooding III
Thursday November 4th, 2010

 

2010


 
OK... here we go again.  It was 2003 when I originally posted the pictures that told the story about this problem... and again in 2006 when things got even worse.  Last night we had about a 2 hour rain.  A nice rain.  Not a tropical storm... not even a big storm.  Just a very nice rainy night that I wish would happen more often.   It hasn't rained here in several months... so I'm sure the ground was about as dry as it could be.  But in about 2 hours... the havoc began and all of this section of Rotonda West went under water AGAIN !!!!  And for the same exact reasons.

 They have blocked off the Rotonda Canal and the water can not escape!

 
 
This is not waterfront property... This is Golfview Road.  And it goes completely under water every time it rains for more than an hour or so.

 
 

 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 

Looking west towards the Rotonda canal 
There are a couple of problems that I believe cause all this... but of course everyone has their own opinion.  Here is mine.  First of all... Golfview road is the road that is right next to the Rotonda Golf and Country Club. 
The RGCC is located right next to the Rotonda canal.  However... the road itself runs down hill from the canal to the Golfview Residential area causing all the water to drain in the WRONG DIRECTION !  The canal is at the other end of this view... yet the water runs directly away from it.

Looking East away from the canal
This is the corner of Golfview Road and Rotonda Circle next to the canal.  No water here... because it's all draining the opposite direction !!!

 
 
The Rotonda Marina docks are under water because the 
water can not leave the canal system once it gets there.
This shows the water level to be about 2 feet over normal today... (it was about 1 foot below level yesterday.  (Wish I had taken a picture of that)

 
 
 
But the water can't leave the Rotonda Canal because it can not flow out of the area because the canal system ENDS BEFORE it reaches the small dam that is supposed to regulate the water levels in this area.

 
 
A quick drive down Cape Haze Drive will show you that the flooding problem there has not changed at all (except maybe a little worse) even they said they spent thousands to make it drain.

 
 
 
This is the small dam that is supposed to control the water level 
of  the Rotonda Canal System.  Nothing happening here.  Nothing different from the way it was yesterday.
While Rotonda West is under an extra 2 feet of water... the dam 1/4 mile away shows no increase of water leaving the area.  The water doesn't even reach the top of the dam... let alone flow over it.  The dam will allow another 3 - 4 inches before allowing the extra water to flow over and out of the Rotonda Canal system.
The reason is because THE WATER CAN NOT REACH THE DAM due to the cattails and other vegetation that is growing between the Rotonda Canal and the dam.    It takes about 3 days for the high water in Rotonda Canal to leach through the vegetation and reach the dam.  If it ever rains for 3 days straight we will all be under water !

 
 
I posted this map back in 2006.  I'll get a new one when I find the time.  Right now I wanted to make the same statement I made in 2003 and in 2006.  The water in the Rotonda Canal system can not get out of the canal via Coral Creek because it is completely gown in with vegetation.  Just look at the aerial map above to see what I am talking about.

And this map is over 4 years old.  That means it has grown in thicker for another four years... and has now almost become dry land.

 
 
 
Here's the photo of the end of the canal
in 2003

 
 
Here's what it looks like now in 2010.  What do you think?   The canal ends here and is filling in more every year. 
How can the water leave?  This natural dam is 1/4 mile upstream from the Coral Creek dam that is supposed
to control the water levels in Rotonda.
Just look at the map again.  It's only a matter of time before the water will be 
completely cut off from the dam that is supposed to control it.

 
 
 
Rotonda Hills Golf Course in this area is completely under water
People want to blame the golf course for the poor drainage but it is not their fault.  The drains are all clean and ready to go.  The probelm is that the water can not leave because the Rotonda Canal that it drains into does not drain out of Rotonda !!!

 
 
The drains on these streets are clean and free of debris
There's just no place for it to go once the whole area fills with water.

I've been telling the same story since 2003... but nobody wants to listen.

In 2006 they invited me to talk to the county commissioner because of this website.  It's easy for them to say "There's no problem" if they don't come and look at it for several days.  Please pass on this address to anyone you think might be interested.  Thank you

Robert


 

 
 
Physics 101

Water is a splendid thing.  It automatically levels itself.  Just look at a glass of water.  Look at a swimming pool.  Look at a lake or an ocean.  Water always levels itself immediately... or it rolls down hill.
Yet the water here at this dock is 1-2 feet higher than the water is a half a mile away... On The Same Canal !  The water in my yard is 1-2 feet higher than it is 1/2 mile away.  The water filling the streets and spreading sewage all over town is 1-2 feet higher that it is 1/2 mile away, where the dam that is suppose to control this water level sits casually draining slowly just as it does when water levels are low.

That concludes that there is something between here and that dam that is holding the high water flow back.  That "thing" is a 1/4 mile of 10 foot high, solid cattails that have all but completely closed off the canal between the Rotonda Canal System and the dam, and are getting higher and thicker every year being fed from run off fertilizers from golf courses and lawns all over Rotonda !

 
 

2006


 
Rotonda West Flooding II
Friday August 25, 2006

NEW MAPS
AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE


 
 
Hi everyone... I normally only photograph positive things such as 
local events and such, but this is something that I think all my friends 
and neighbors might be interested in. 

For the past few years, I've been telling everyone that will listen, that this neighborhood is going to go under water
if they don't fix the drainage in the Rotonda Canal System.  Last night we had about an hours worth of steady 
rain, and this is the result.  Imagine if we ever got a real storm !

This is my story...

Feel free to email this webpage address to your family and friends
or anyone else you think might be interested. 
We can use all the help we can get.

(just right click on this page anywhere and choose send page)

My story began 3 years ago,
when I photographed and videotaped this problem in June of 2003.
To help everyone understand, I even built a photo web page and published
it to my website.  This is what it said.

Rotonda Flood 2003
*  Please be patient  *
This page contains over 30 quality photographs
and may take a moment to download

Rotonda Flood
June 22-26 2003

The following photographs were taken during the flood
which caused mail delivery to be stopped,
people from being able to go to work, buy food
or get to doctor appointments.

My house

My street

Rotonda Marina
Rotonda Marina is 2+feet higher than normal

Yet Rotonda dam has only 1+ inch of water flowing over it
And this little dam is only 1/4 mile away
on the same canal !

left
looking north from the dam
Cat nine tails block the flow of water from Rotonda canals

right
Looking south from the hump back bridge on Cape Haze drive
You can see the 1/4 mile of solid 10' high cat nine tails
that have all but closed off water flow to the dam
 

The roads go under water making driving hazardous

Bubbling sewers pour raw sewage into the streets..

And our children are playing in it !

All of these locations came within inches of having flood water
and raw sewage entering their homes

Rotonda Hills Golf course becomes one huge lake with a few oasis like
greens to show that the golf course even exists

And there is tanker truck after tanker truck filling or dumping,
from across the street from the marina
until all hours of the night...

I do not know what they were doing...
but thought it must be connected somehow !

THESE ARE NOT WATERFRONT HOMES !!!!!!

Rotonda canal system all but ends here
where these plants have overtaken the canal system

And our homes are going to go under water
because these cat nine tails block the canal from draining to the bay!

These plants get a little taller and a little thicker every year...
And the water levels get a little higher every year
because the water can't drain into the bay
until it gets deep enough
to actually go over or around these 10' plants !

Another couple of years, and this will turn to dry land,
ending all the drainage from the Rotonda area !

I have hundreds of photographs and hours of videotape to document this problem.
If you have any interest or know how we can get this resolved
please contact me.

I have also spoke to the man that said he was "in charge of this dam".
And that he is the only one who decides when excess water
gets released from this dam.
When I asked him how he decides "when" to open the valve
he said, when he "darn well feels like it".

He says that removing the boards and manually opening the large valve
that lets a lot more flood water to drain into the bay faster
"is a pain in the butt"  and that he  "don't get paid for it..."
so he doesn't open it unless he "damn well has to".

This is the only guy that actually has any control
over the water level in the Rotonda canal system...
and it sounds to me like he "really don't care".

I know that there are many other factors that lead to the current flooding
of the Rotonda area... but I believe that these cat tails and this little dam
are the only thing that could actually make any kind of real difference now...
BEFORE we all go underwater.

Have you read your flood policy lately?

Back to 2006

I spoke to Rotonda Association, Charlotte County Public Works and
Charlotte County Utilities, yet nobody seems to know who would be in charge
of such things... so I'm going to do raise the question again today, and see if I can find
someone  that will take notice before we all go under water.

If you followed the pictures above, you already know my story... so now I'm just going
to add a little extra information and some new photos from today's flood.


 
 
This is also NOT waterfront property ! 

This is Golfview Road S.  and it is about 
18-24 inches deep in the middle of the street.

 
This is what my driveway looks like today

 
This is my back yard... aka the Hills Golf Course #3 fairway

 
Note:

It is difficult to "prove" anything to anybody in this town...
I find that everyone wants to "confuse" the issues more than they want to conclude anything.  So I try to help people understand by using  pictures.  Here's my story... again !

 
This is the little dam in Cape Haze, that is supposed to control the water level of the Rotonda Canal System.  I took this picture a few days ago on my way back from a photo job I did on Coral Creek Drive.   Notice the water level below the wire fence that is on top of the dam.  It is several inches below the top of the dam when the canal is at a normal water level like this... and the water drains through holes provided in the dam.
The picture above,  I took of the same dam today, while the water everywhere in Rotonda is 1-2 feet higher than normal.  Notice, the water still does not even reach the top of the dam.  No change at all!

Taken August 2006
The problem is, 
that the water that comes to this dam 
has to come down the Rotonda Canal...  (above)
and 
The Rotonda Canal is no longer a canal...

100 yards beyond the humpback bridge on Cape Haze Drive... it is just a huge 1/4 mile long swamp full of Cattails, Brazilian Pepper and other aquatic plants that have all but choked off our drainage to the dam ! 


Taken June 2003

Just compare this same exact picture of  I took in 2003 to the 
2006 picture above to see how fast the vegetagtion is growing
in our canal !  The water can not leave Rotonda because of 
this natural barrier that gets taller and thicker every year !

Want to see it for yourself...  stop at the end of Anne Underwood Drive (off of Cape Haze Drive) and look for yourself. 

Walk down this short dirt trail about 20 yards to the dam

 Go there any sunny day when water levels are normal... and then compare it to a day like today when water levels are 1-2 feet higher than normal. You'll find that there is no more water going over this dam either way.  That's because the extra water can't even reach this dam because of the 1/4 mile of canal upstream from it that has filled in with vegitation.

Another example.


 
 
This is the Rotonda Marina... 
and it is about 2 feet deeper than usual.

That dam  is only about 1/2 mile from here, 
yet the level of water at the dam does not rise at all,
when it should level itself to the same height  naturally.

 
Physics 101

Water is a splendid thing.  It automatically levels itself.  Just look at a glass of water.  Look at a swimming pool.  Look at a lake or an ocean.  Water always levels itself immediately... or it rolls down hill.
Yet the water here at this dock is 1-2 feet higher than the water is a half a mile away... On The Same Canal !  The water in my yard is 1-2 feet higher than it is 1/2 mile away.  The water filling the streets and spreading sewage all over town is 1-2 feet higher that it is 1/2 mile away, where the dam that is suppose to control this water level sits casually draining slowly just as it does when water levels are low.

That concludes that there is something between here and that dam that is holding the high water flow back.  That "thing" is a 1/4 mile of 10 foot high, solid cattails that have all but completely closed off the canal between the Rotonda Canal System and the dam, and are getting higher and thicker every year being fed from run off fertilizers from golf courses and lawns all over Rotonda !

 
Cape Haze Drive is always under water
They even have a sign to let you know
Golf View Road is completely under water...
but I guess nobody wants to drive in the deep water 
to put a sign up around here.
Marie Young is a Certified Registered Nurse, with patients waiting to see her today, but she can't leave the house until the water level goes down at least a foot or so.  Her patients will have to wait !


At 8:30 that evening (14 hours without any additional rain) 
it was still 6 inches deep on the street... because all the 
flood water must "sift" through all the vegetation 
growing in the canal to get to the dam.

And at 8:30 the following morning... (26 hours later)
the water was still not completely off the street.

I went to an engineer and asked for some help to find elevations
on a topographical map... and he sent me to the
Charlotte County Website at
www.charlottecountyfl.com

From there you can see the entire area from the air...

Here's what this area looks like from above...

NOTICE
how the water must find its own way through the large
green area between the Rotonda canal and the dam
that is supposed to control the water levels in the area.


 
 
You also have to consider all the building that is going on in the Rotonda area.  Much of the land that used to absorb the extra water is now covered with concrete and blacktop for large homes, condos and other growing businesses.  That means more water is running off into the canal system... and because of the blockage getting bigger every day...  less is getting out every day.

I think this is the prescription for disaster !

 
I don't have any other solutions other than 
allow the water a clear path to leave Rotonda !

I am pretty darn sure that if I built a little dam that backed up this much water and
changed peoples lives this much, that someone would come along in an instant and tell me to remove it, not to mention sue me for all the damages and lost wages it caused.  Not to mention the medical problems all the raw sewage is going cause if it gets into our water supply.  There are a lot of people who pump this contaminated canal water all over their property to water their lawns, and then assume it is safe for their children to play in the yard.  Do we know this for a fact? 

Only time will tell. 

Do you care?

One Last Note:

I grew up on the banks of a shallow, slow moving creek in SW Pennsylvania, and I watched that creek flood a couple times a year for 20 years.  Just downstream from our home was a bridge... and every time some trees (in the summer) or some icebergs (in the winter) jammed up at that bridge, the water level rose so fast that you'd almost have to run from the bank of the creek to avoid being swished away.   But once the creek got high enough that the water could go over or around  that debris... the water stopped rising immediately.  But then took days to go back to a normal level as the water sifted through the barrier.  I've seen it happen 100 times.   And I think that's what's happening here.
 

Would a Petition help?

My friends and neighbors have asked me to start a petition to see if we can
get some answers about this problem before we all go under water...
If you have concerns, and would like to help us spread the word, just drop me
a note and I'll send or let you know where to downloada copy of the petition we plan to use.

Questions?  Comments?

Robert Shainline
P.O. Box 906
Cape Haze, FL  33946

email
Shain@sunsetvideo.org

Please use the word "Flood" in the subject line
or it may automatically go into my SPAM folder

And feel free to send this web address to your friends

www.EnglewoodBay.com/flood

Have a Nice Day  :)