HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Most people who filed into the cafeteria of Pierce Center Faculty for a Tuesday night assembly introduced with them a fear about future hurricanes, they usually need Hillsborough County to do extra to calm these fears.
Gerald Mullins is a type of folks.
“Put it this fashion, after I was within the U.S. Air Power, if I had carried out my job like they’re doing their job, guess the place I’d been? I’d have been in jail,” he mentioned.
Mullins thinks his property on Thatcher Ave. in Egypt Lake-Leto flooded throughout final 12 months’s storms as a result of close by canals and ditches had been overgrown with shrugs or clogged with trash.
“If they’d clear the canals, there would by no means be an issue,” he mentioned.
It’s vital suggestions as a result of proper now, Hillsborough County is learning what went fallacious throughout Hurricanes Helene and Milton and what drainage issues must be mounted.
Within the Tuesday assembly, Commissioner Harry Cohen and different county leaders heard immediately from folks like Mullins who stay in and across the Egypt Lake-Leto/City ‘N’ Nation space.
Seven future conferences will look at what went fallacious in different neighborhoods throughout Hillsborough County.
“In some, it was pump stations and turbines. In others, it might have been preventative upkeep,” Cohen mentioned. “The one means that you may make clever spending choices is to prioritize based mostly on what the wants are.”
WATCH: City ‘N’ Nation owners urge county to make drainage fixes earlier than future storms
City ‘N’ Nation owners urge county to make drainage fixes earlier than future storms
As soon as the necessity is understood, Cohen mentioned Hillsborough County can probably use federal funds and its Group Funding Tax to start out tackling the issues.
However that probably received’t occur in a single day.
“We’ve had some folks from the county telling us that enchancment is perhaps coming, however not ‘til like 2028. We will’t wait that lengthy,” mentioned Russell Habel, who lives in City ‘N’ Nation.
He and Partho Roy need sooner fixes as a result of they mentioned their group is weak till change occurs.
“We have to clear out these drainage canals, culverts, and get these pumps working, and when you want extra money within the finances, put extra money within the finances for our district,” Roy mentioned.
Based on Cohen, the research will probably be full and offered to county commissioners in June.
Here’s a checklist of the remaining seven conferences the place you can provide your enter:
- 6:30 p.m. April 22 — Riverview Public Library, 9951 Balm Riverview Rd., Riverview, FL 33569
- 6 p.m. April 23 — Carrollwood Cultural Heart, 4537 Lowell Rd., Tampa, FL 33618
- 5:30 p.m. April 29 — Plant Metropolis Excessive Faculty cafeteria, 1 Raider Pl., Plant Metropolis, FL 33563
- 6:30 p.m. Could 7 — Jan Kaminis Platt Regional Library, 3910 S. Manhattan Ave., Tampa, FL 33611
- 6 p.m. Could 12 — College Space Group Growth Company, Inc., 14013 N. twenty second St., Tampa, FL 33613
- 5:30 p.m. Could 15 — Jimmie B. Keel Regional Public Library, 2902 W. Bearss Ave., Tampa, FL 33618
- 6 p.m. Could 19 — Lennard Excessive Faculty, 2342 E. Shell Level Rd., Ruskin, FL 33570
Residents may also present enter just about from April 15 to Could 19 at HCFL.gov/HCengage.