Have any Villages ever Flooded?
 

We have lots of lakes around, but I don't know of any significant streams flowing out of here. Offhand, it looks like once the retention ponds fill up to adjoining roads, the nearby streets and homes will flood. The ponds I see are already as full as we usually see them.

How many inches of rain can we receive before they fill and flood over? Has this ever happened? Reports I see estimate we will get 5 to 8 inches on Thursday.

Anyone know of a Villages topographical elevation map online?

Have any Villages ever Flooded?
 

Tomorrow will be a Good test for the river that runs through Osceola Hills and the varied terrain in Pine Hills.

Here is a link to the Sumter county map, on the right hand side click on the 100 year flood button, enjoy.

Sumter County - Geographic Information System

It would take a lot of rain to fill the ponds and before that happens they will turn on all the sprinkler systems. Last year the ponds were much higher than they are now and nowhere near flooding the streets much less homes.

Trying to remember flooding and I believe some Villa's flooded one year in the Village of Duval. They backed up to 466A. I could be wrong---perhaps someone else remembers.

Have seen four inches of rain come down in an hour or so without a problem

You're more likely to get flooded from Street Flooding then pond overflowing

The intersection by Mallory Country Club had standing water after we got more that 20 inches of rain in three days about seven years ago.

What's standing water?

I think the flooding happened because there was sand clogging up the storm drains in that neighborhood. Don't know of any other flooding here.

I have played golf at Hilltop executive course and noticed some homes at the bottom of some of the hills that look as though running rainwater might be a problem.

In general, though, I have not seen or heard of homes being flooded in The Villages.

When the lakes and catch basins get too high, The Villages just runs the sprinkler systems continuously. The ground can absorb the excess water.

The same thing as when water just 'sits' there. :D

We had a huge thunderstorm around August 11, 2011. I remember it was a Thursday and I was getting ready to watch some preseason football game and my Directv went out. I checked the online radar to see how bad it was and saw a cell right over TV. The cell never moved for two solid hours, the rain came down in buckets without letting up. Finally the storm moved slowly to the west.

The next morning I was playing the executive course Sand Hill at Buena Vista and St. Charles for the first time. When we got to the course at 9am, all you could see what tees and greens, eveything else was under water. My neighbor had played the course before, so he could tell me what the hole was really like, but we played every hole as a water hole. When we finished the round the starter said we were lucky, the course is closed. The next day I read in the Sun that about a half dozen executive courses were closed until Tuesday.

I don't remember any homes flooding, but Bonifay Golf Course was due to open soon and it was pushed back to late November. Only Destin and Ft. Walton nines then opened and Pensacola nine was pushed back another nine months to late 2012 because they said it had received extensive damage from the storm.

It makes sense to do that in advance of an expected heavy storm in order to lower the pond level, and I know management does that, but if it has already rained enough, fast enough, to overflow the pond, and it is still raining hard, resulting in water running off the grass onto the streets and into the storm drains and into the pond, then it seems to me that at that point the sprinklers would only add to the water that is already running into the pond. I suppose it could help a little, but not much once the ground is saturated.

Your response is just incredibly funny! Thanks for the laugh!

You're pretty quick yourself. :thumbup:

I think you didn't receive the memo regarding the planning meeting.:wave:

If you are serious about this question, it must be a local expression from my part of the country.

Here it is used in a sentence;

Don't drive through standing water, auto insurance executive warns motorists | MLive.com

Good link. It appears most or all the ponds are in the 100 year floodplain, but the houses nearby are not. Let's hope we do not get a 0ne in a 1000 years flood, like LA just did.

Standing as opposed to flowing.

NWS always says," do not drive through standing water." No way to tell how deep it is. Very commonly used in flood prone areas, but I never thought about how it sounds.

Sorry, but I do not know exactly what that means, other than it meant to be funny.

We went through 4 hurricanes that came through The Villages summer of 2004. Don't remember any flooding and there was lots of rain and wind.

Flooding In Polo Ridge, The Villages, FL, on March 31, 2011 - YouTube Almost like the area between my house and next door after every rain that warranty says "the grading of your property is consistent with the Master Grading Plan".

The coming weather is not predicted to become a hurricane. However, it should bring some high winds.

The original poster had legitimate concerns about rain, but I would be more concerned with getting everything moved inside that might be blown around to damage property. Trash cans, garden hoses, light weight lawn ornaments (where permitted) and similar items should be moved inside.

Take down flags to avoid seeing them shredded, or flag poles damaged.

Do you have food and water to last a couple of days in your cupboard? Flashlights in case power is lost? First aid kit for minor injuries? Sufficient prescription meds on hand if the pharmacy is closed for a day or two? I would worry more about these things than the coming rainfall.

Remember. We are not on the coastline. We are where people who fear a real hurricane relocate TO in an emergency.

Is Tampa out of the line of fire for now? Stay safe!

Question is, has anyone been concerned enough to actually take out flood insurance for their home?

The latest global spectral model results suggest a more northerly track for the center of circulation than earlier simulations. I am expecting perhaps as much as 2-3 inches of rain and sustained winds of maybe 15-20 mph. NHC forecasts have less than a 50% probability of seeing winds above 40 mph (average for 1 minute). Remember that the kinetic energy of the wind goes as the square of the velocity so small decreases in wind velocity are significant. We will have a better handle on things tomorrow.

Flood insurance is for rising water - generally not a problem here. Straight line wind damage or lightning strikes are more likely. Neither are covered by flood insurance. If you are interested in flood insurance, make sure you read the small print - you may be surprised what is in there.

I live on the street that was flooded in Duval.
The flood was caused by a backup in the sewer line . Construction material , mostly sand clogged up the line flooding a couple of homes and some villas. The water came up my driveway but stopped short of my house.
This was in 2007.

In the winter of 1997-98 there was some flooding in the Villages. The pond at bottom of Hilltop golf course hole #1 overflowed to the homes. There was a considerable amount of street flooding in that area. The pond on the east side of Hwy 27/441 overflowed almost to the highway. A wooden causeway was quickly built for golf carts. Since that time a considerable amount of work has been done to manage and distribute the water in ponds. While the soil seems to be able to absorb quite a lot of rain, there have been times when it becomes saturated and then there is some "standing water" between homes. It has been said that the Villages does not suffer as much as coastal areas from hurricane winds but there have been occasions when a tornado is spun off from hurricanes. Folks have also drained up to a foot of water from residential pools to avoid overflow during storms.

Good to know
 

We were here then and thank you for the clarification. Good to hear your house was not affected. These freak things happen sometimes.

I have a first cousin who lives in a suburb of Baton Rouge, La. and I called her a week or two ago. Linda and her husband David built their house 35 years ago---never no water ----never dreamed water would get into their house---- but this time. We were shocked but managed to say "others were in much worse shape as we only got a couple inches actually in their home".

Who would believe the tornado on Groundhog Day 2007. Freak things happen sometimes.

We were there to look at a house in 07. Just could not remember what village

There could be a lot of water due to the rains expected.
Be sure your downspouts have splash blocks or extensions to keep water from accumulating at or near the pad the home is built upon.

It is best for the water to drain away from the pad/house.

Just in case.

Looks good
 

Tampa is getting a lot of rain. When I bought my house I checked topographical maps to assure that I was on high ground. I hope things are safe in The Villages. Stay safe.

there's a river over there?

While I think our impact from Hermine was overestimated, I saw one post mentioning taking flags down to prevent damage. A little over a week ago , my Flagpole was struck by lightning. The bolt on top and the decorative ball were damaged. The flag and pole were not damaged. At the bottom of the pole , there were lines of burnt grass leading towards the house that found the buried Comcast Cable which served as the ground blowing a small hole in the ground and splattered mud on the house. Some surge entered the house causing some slight damage despite whole hose surge protection. Neighbors also affected. Note that house has lightening rods that are actually higher than flagpole. Appears that the flagpole (Metal) was a better conductor.

There was relatively weak external forcing so the early predictions had a substantial amount of uncertainty. As we got closer in time, it became apparent that the track was further to the northwest. For the last 24 hours, it has been apparent that the impact to us would be relatively minor. Some situations are more predictable than others. We should see some winds about 20-25 mph and perhaps 2-3 inches of rain. Hopefully no tornadoes will be spawned.

Now, Gracie, what's a gal from Ohio doing on a Michigan website? :laugh: