Please see some attached pictures of the proximity of the water to the homes.

With the lake on Shadow Oaks Rd not moving only an inch or two of rain creates severe flooding (1 to 2 ft) because all the water goes to Sylvan Lea Dr and the Shadow Oaks and Sylvan Lea neighborhoods. Please hurry!

The water issue in sylvan Lea is critical. It is not draining. We are expecting more rain and a possibility of another hurricane will put houses here under water. This needs top priority.

In Sylvan Lea subdivision there is also an issue along Misty Sunrise Trail where the water from normal rains is accumulating at the base of our driveways and has begun to climb the drives now that the ground is saturated. Here's a photo to show.

Here's a photo (I tried to add 9/18/17) of water flooding to the driveways (and remaining without draining for days) of multiple houses in Sylvan Lea along Misty Sunrise Trail. I took it a few days ago.

Thank you for the updates

At approximately 5 PM Friday 9-15-2017 a thunderstorm passed over our home at 2158 Sylvan Lea Drive. Within about an hour most of the rain and lightning had subsided. We went out to assess the flooding and were shocked to find the water level had risen to the lip of our garage. We had not seen such high water since the storm of 1993, which caused the creation of the celery fields drainage project. Something has occurred that seems to be restricting the flow of water from the street. Please make this a priority so we do not have water entering our homes on this street. As we are not in a designated flood zone, many of our neighbors do not have flood insurance.

An urgent request is made of MI Homes, Sarasota County and SWFWMD to perform a comprehensive review of the design, construction and maintenance of the existing storm water drainage system for (the old) Sylvan Lea Phase 1 neighborhood. As 25 year residents of Sylvan Lea, we have NEVER witnessed flooding in our neighborhood to the extent that occurred on Friday afternoon, September 15, 2017.

The relatively small amount of rain associated with Hurricane Irma on Sunday, September 10, 2017 was NOT a major contributing factor to this flooding event. It merely added to already high retention pond levels and soil saturation in our area. We had four days without any rain between these two dates. Although these are private roads and infrastructure, which are the responsibility of the HOA, the county and state should be concerned from an emergency vehicle access/life safety standpoint as well as a FEMA National Flood Insurance Program perspective.

In addition to posing the very real threat of flood water entering several homes along Sylvan Lea Drive, the Friday rain event, which lasted less than one hour, made all of Sylvan Lea Drive (including the entrance/exit at Porter Road and intersections with Misty Sunrise Trail and Rain Forest Trail) as well as the “duck pond” area at the SE corner of Misty Sunrise Trail either impassable or nearly impassable by a normal clearance vehicle for well over an hour after the rain ceased.

Review of the existing Phase 1 storm water infrastructure should be performed relative to a RE-REVIEW of the storm water drainage plans for (the new) Sylvan Lea Phase 2 currently under development. In addition to the impact on existing residents of Phase 1, all future residents of Phase 2 will be entirely dependent on Sylvan Lea Drive for ingress/egress to the subdivision.

Several questions for consideration during the requested review process include:

1. Do current development plans call for re-constructing the existing two (2) catch basins (storm drains) and replace/re-slope the aging and rudimentary storm water pipe system currently in place beneath Sylvan Lea Drive? The current storm water system apparently drains into an undersized and poorly drained retention pond located in the Shadow Oaks Drive neighborhood to the west.

2. Can a redesigned & reconstructed system for the existing section of Sylvan Lea Drive in Phase 1 be re-routed and tied into the new storm water system planned for Phase 2, “The Woods at Sylvan Lea”?

3. Is the storm water from Phase 2 planned to drain into a new retention pond on the property with a connection to the “Lateral C-A Canal”, which forms the northern boundary of the Sylvan Lea subdivision?

Thank you in advance for your timely attention to this important issue.

Sincerely,
Jon & Cindy Sprenger

I have had flooding in my yard several times this summer with very slow drainage. Some of my plants are dying and I'm concerned that more rain will put the water level close to my house. Our beautiful oak trees need drainage so their roots can get oxygen. Please identify the problem and correct it. Thank you. Laurel Healy

My home is located on Misty Sunrise Tr in Sylvan Lea.
Flooding this weekend was extreme !! Could not access our road without traveling threw approx 12 inches of water .. attention is desperately needed

Thank you in advance for addressing this critical drainage issue in the Sylvan Lea neighborhood.

Lisa and Ken Wheeler
2056 Misty Sunrise Trail

Friday, 9-15-2017 the neighborhood of Sylvan Lea experienced the worst flooding since the early 90's.
Something has changed that is not allowing storm water to drain and it is threatening our homes.
Please give this situation your prompt attention.
Sincerely, Felix and Meg Ferlise

This is the first time water came within 3-4 feet of our garage. The County should investigate the surrounding ponds and confirm there is no blockage between them. They should also reevaluate the current plans for stormwater drainage in Phase 2 of Sylvan Lea, which is currently under development.

We have lived in Sylvan Lea at 2053 Misty Sunrise tr. for 24 years. In a short amount of time our drainage has changed and slowed dramatically. We experienced the worst amount of water dangerously close to many of our homes we have ever seen. Something has changed in Sylvan Lea and our water is not draining properly.
Chuck & Pauline Jeffries

On Friday, 9-22-17 we had another flooding situation in Sylvan Lea. It was worse than the week before on 9-15-17. We were told by several neighbors who drove to or from Bee Ridge Rd. they saw the streets in Shadow Oaks flooding. The lakes are still full (noon Sunday) and the drainage is not flowing properly. Can anyone please check the stormwater drainage issue as we had water levels up our driveway to the our garage door this past Friday night.
Patty McGuire Gilliland and Kim Gilliland
2158 Sylvan Lea Drive

This is the 3rd time in less than 2 weeks of VERY SEVERE FLOODING and more rain on the way. Every time an inch or two of rain falls the water is dangerously close to the homes. The streets in Sylvan Lea and Shadow Oaks become flooded and impassable. Storm water drains are full and have no more capacity. Please clean the drainage ditches/pipes between the lakes in Shadow Oaks to lower the lakes! The lakes are way too high!!!! The ditches they drain into are very low!!!! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!!!!

It looks as if the outfall of Lake L6-46 may not be flowing properly overland to the Main Canal A through a very overgrown overland ditch. This seems to be causing a back up of water up to our Lake L6-48. I believe the pipes have been verified as clean but the overland ditches have not been maintained and the outfalls have been silted. These ditches need to be cleaned of vegetation, surveyed for proper flow and re-established so the county does not put water in our homes. Life safety is in jeopardy every time it rains and our community is shut off from emergency services. Our HOA has cleaned the lines internally and assisted with some vegetation removal but the downstream systems need attention too- Please book a crew to come and cut the vegetation to improve flow while you further evaluate the elevations of the system. Our homes are flooding!

Thank you for contacting Sarasota County Government. Your request (#SR421929) was resolved. Please contact 941-861-5000 for any further information.

Specifically, what work was completed to resolve this issue and prevent similar flooding events from occurring in the future? Was a complete (re)review of the current stormwater management plans for ALL of Sylvan Lea (existing Phase 1 and currently in-development Phase 2) completed by SWFMWD and the county? Do the stormwater retention ponds for both phases of Sylvan Lea have adequate capacity and drainage outflow rates to prevent a (re)flooding of Sylvan Lea Drive?

In my opinion, the recent events this past September were NOT the result of some highly exceptional or extreme rainfall event and are therefore LIKELY TO REOCCUR and potentially be worse IF ANY additional stormwater from the new Phase 2 development is added to an unimproved Phase 1 stormwater system. Thank you for your continued attention.

Thank you for reporting this SeeClickFix issue! This has been logged as Maximo service request #SR427379, for investigation. For more information, please call the Contact Center at (941) 861-5000.

The work at L6-48 has been completed. Inspections are occurring on the south side of L6-46.

Thank you for contacting Sarasota County Government. Your request (#SR427379) was resolved. Please contact 941-861-5000 for any further information.