CRESTVIEW — Last weekend's thunderstorm may have caused many North Okaloosa County residents to flash back to April 29-30, 2014.
One year ago, widespread flooding throughout the area broke dams and washed out roads; neighborhoods were isolated and culverts overflowed.
City and county public works officials are still making repairs, with federal disaster assistance money just beginning to make its way into local coffers.
Area repair projects include:
•Airport Road. A severe washout almost collapsed the roadway opposite Mill Brook Lane. County crews gave the repair a high priority and stabilized the area within a month of the storm. The new mitigation structure channels runoff from Brook Estates and either side of Airport Road into the Hunter Woods subdivision pond and, eventually, to Piney Woods Creek after passing through Grandview Heights' ponds.
•Grandview Drive. While Okaloosa County crews repaired a serious washout in Grandview Drive within two months of the storm, the homeowners' association has yet to approve repairs on a dam that failed April 30, 2014, draining Grandview Pond.
•Oak Hill Road. Davis Mill Creek flood-stage waters drove logs and debris against guardrails and washed out half the roadway. Water gushing down the hill's north side excavated a hole in the road, flowed under the asphalt before it burst to the surface through a widening crack, and formed waterfalls as it plunged more than 6 feet over the broken roadway. The Plum Orchard Way neighborhood is still cut off from Old Bethel Road; piles of dirt block a section of undamaged road, preventing residents from attempting to drive over the weakened roadbed. County Public Works Director Jason Autrey — who said FEMA received final requested documentation last week — is confident that given good weather, repairs will begin this summer. "It's taking longer because we're not putting back what was there," Autrey said. "We are building a mitigation structure, so the road will be better than before."
•Okaloosa Lane. County Public Works crews completed repairs on the washed-out section at the end of March, restoring access from U.S. Highway 90 to Aplin Road and Redstone Avenue. For almost a year, drivers had to make a detour.
•Phillips Drive. A cavernous gulch that formed at the foot of the water tower will be mitigated by a $1.3 million federal USDA/Natural Resources Conservation Services grant, received in February, to construct a stormwater control structure. The project is in the engineering and planning stage, Crestview Public Works Director Wayne Steele said.
•Sexton Drive, Baker. A 3-foot-deep washout made the country road's west end impassable except by driving across neighbors' property. Autrey said Public Works anticipates approval of the county's request to FEMA shortly, with repairs beginning as early as summer.
•Shoal River Drive. The development's homeowners' association funded the failed dam's reconstruction. With the project nearly complete, county road crews are poised to come in and rebuild the road that washed away from the top of the dam. The county could not use public funds to rebuild the privately owned dam, Autrey said, but can replace the county-maintained road.
MITIGATING, NOT PATCHING
"The best news is we're maximizing our reimbursement eligibility from FEMA," Autrey said. "In these situations, it is a case of quality over quantity."
Because many projects include future stormwater damage mitigation, engineering is taking longer than a simple fill-and-patch repair. But demonstrating the county is eager to mitigate future damage has made FEMA more willing to reimburse the county, Autrey said.
"I appreciate everyone's patience on this," he said. "In the long run, I think citizens are going to be pleased with the quality of the results they're getting."
CRESTVIEW PROJECTS
The Crestview Public Works Department addressed a list of seven major repair projects, encompassing streets, dams and drainage systems.
"We have completed all the repairs for the damage received from the storm event," Steele said. So far, he said, the city has been reimbursed for two of seven city-wide projects, amounting to $110,523 from FEMA for street shoulder and embankment repairs for 10 roads within the city limits.
Some state money is expected to follow, but not all of the city's storm-related emergency repairs will be covered, Steele said. "The city really only receives a portion of the actual cost of repairs, and those amounts are based from their formulas of eligible cost, not actual cost."
Other projects include repairing failed retention pond dams at Kirkwood, Indian Trails and Old Bethel Estates; replacing drainage systems, curbing and paving on McLaughlin Street; and repairing the retention wall at the Twin Hills Park football field.
In all, Steele's department seeks reimbursement for $1.525 million, of which $1.3 will be covered by the NCRS grant.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at brianh@crestviewbulletin.com, follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: ONE YEAR LATER: Some roads still need repairs; Okaloosa maximizes federal reimbursement
