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Those Near Alafia River Get Scare As Water Rises

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By YVETTE C. HAMMETT, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 9, 2007

VALRICO - Nanci Chadwick wasn't sure whether to go to sleep Sunday night or move her car and take her dogs, cats and chickens to higher ground.

After driving rain last week and more Sunday in Polk County and east Hillsborough County, the Alafia River rose more than 3.5 feet over the weekend, bringing it within 18 inches of flood stage, or 13 feet, regional forecasters said. Chadwick's home is right on the river.

The good news is that forecasters predicted the river would begin receding by Monday afternoon and be back down to 11 feet by this morning. There is no significant rain in the forecast this week.

'People in the most populated areas might think it didn't really rain Sunday,' said National Weather Service meteorologist Richard Rude. But western Polk and parts of eastern Hillsborough got 1 inch to 3 inches of rain that day, pushing the Alafia and the Little Manatee rivers higher.

'We got some rain every day last week,' Rude said. 'Oct. 5 was the jackpot day with 24-hour rainfall between 1 inch and 3 inches.'

The Little Manatee River crested at 13.3 feet Sunday afternoon, and then began falling, the Southeast River Forecast Center in Atlanta said.

The National Weather Service extended flood warnings through late Monday in the Wimauma area, but only minor flooding was expected.

The Little Manatee should drop below flood stage before dawn today, according to the Southeast River Forecast Center in Atlanta.

The Hillsborough River is not expected to flood.

The last time the Alafia got treacherously high was during the hurricane season in 2004, when it exceeded 22 feet, Rude said.

The Little Manatee crested at 20 feet in 2001.

Chadwick said getting no warning about the rising waters Sunday gave her and her neighbors a start.

'When the water started coming in, it just kept coming,' she said. The water flowed over her neighbor's dock, and her pond, near the river's edge, quickly filled.

'Nobody told us nothing, and we hadn't heard anything, so we didn't know how to react,' Chadwick said.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has a reverse 911 notification system to warn residents when the river is rising, but the system was down this past weekend, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said. She said the system is expected to be back online this morning.

Reporter Neil W. Johnson contributed to this report. Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at yhammett@tampatrib.com or (813) 657-4532.

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