JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — A resident is speaking out about the ongoing flooding issues on 1st Street North in Jax Beach.
Beth Acheson says she’s lived in her home here for over 50 years, and water drainage has been a problem on her street for a long time.
We first spoke to Acheson last July over the same flooding issues she’s facing today.
“People were flying through here, and the waves were going up in our doors,” Acheson said.
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After a storm hit Jax Beach on Wednesday, she says the flooding was up to the curb.
Acheson said after our coverage, the city hired an outside contractor from St. Augustine to fix some of the drains along the street. She says it helped, but the outflow drain is still buried by the sand dunes.
“You want to buy a house, but you’re sitting in a lake of water that the city can’t do anything about it, and you have to take a boat to your vehicle, because the city won’t fix the draining,” Acheson said.
Acheson says a hole on the beach in front of her house has been there for about two years. But after she showed Action News Jax, she noticed the hole had been widened enough for water to, hopefully, flow back into the ocean.
“There’s actually water in the hole now, but in the future, beach-goers are going to use that as a play area, and they’re going to bury it again,” Acheson said.
We reached out to the city’s public works department, and they informed us that this hole is a buried outfall that was uncovered after Wednesday’s storm.
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In a statement from Jax Beach City Mayor Chris Hoffman, she wrote, “Stormwater drainage is a challenge that our city is constantly working to improve. We had massively heavy rains yesterday morning that put a lot of water into our system, but everything worked as it should.”
Acheson says she’s grateful for the steps made by the city, but the real test will come after the rain our First Alert Weather Team is tracking this upcoming weekend.
“We’ll see from here if they’re finding a solution that makes it safe for the beach goers and that our places don’t get flooded every day,” Acheson said.
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