JACKSONVILLE, Fla — When some areas of Mandarin had flash flooding – one man decided to go out on his kayak to clear storm drains and move flooded cars.
City leaders say they are reviewing problem areas as they monitor more storms ahead.
Mid-afternoon showers like the ones experienced Tuesday and Wednesday become a part of life. On Tuesday, one Mandarin resident says showers caused drainage problems in his neighborhood.
“I’ve never seen it flooded this bad,” Ryan Manley said as he paddled his kayak down Torre Grand Ave.
He says storm drains near his home filled up quickly in 30 to 45 minutes after storms rolled in.
“Cars are getting flooded, water coming up past the door panels, cars stuck in the middle of the road, it was pretty crazy and fast,” Manley said. “I have talked to some of my neighbors [who lived here] for 30 years and they say it happens once or twice during hurricane season. They’ve brought it up countless times."
Our storm experts say the area received 6 to 8 inches of rain within two hours.
Michael Boylan, Jacksonville City Councilman for this district, says he received several calls, emails and pictures about the problems on Tuesday.
He says he is reaching out to public works to review these troubled areas.
“There’s a regular schedule for drainage clean up and cleaning out the sewers, but many of it is on a demand basis,” Boylan said.
Boylan says that Public Works regularly cleans the drains, but can do increased cleaning when they are asked.
“It’s year-round attention, because the size of it is fairly large in terms of need," he said. "All Public Works can hope to do is be methodic and responsive, those are the two key pieces in this process. We’ve been reaching out today and saying now is a great opportunity to see some of the severe situations around our community, so maybe we need to tick up the priorities in areas that saw flooding in the last 24 hours."
Boylan says the city’s public works department is aware of the issue and does year-round maintenance of storm drains.
The water from Tuesday’s flash flooding went down eventually.
Manley hopes people remain cautious about where they go during a storm.
“I probably saw four cars hydro locked that I had to push onto dry land. One of them being my girlfriend’s sister’s car,” Manley said.
“You see water on the road you never know how deep that is,” Manley said.
First Coast News has also reached out to the city's public works department to see if any projects will address the flash flooding issues. We are waiting to hear from them.