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Flood Warning Issued For Manatee River At Myakka Head

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 22, 2008

Deluges on Saturday, rain this morning and a threat of more wet stuff later today has prompted the weather service to issue a flood warning for the Manatee River at Myakka Head.

Forecasters expect the river to crest at a bit more than a foot above flood stage at 2 p.m. today and stay there. By this morning, the river was at 11.4 feet. Flood stage is 11 feet.

The weather service alert says the river should fall below flood stage on Monday morning.

When the river reaches 11 feet, a private road and bridge a mile downstream from where State Road 64 crosses the river floods. Agricultural areas and the rural Kibler area also begin to flood.

Forecasters expect the crest of 12.3 feet to be similar to a level reached on May 20, 1970. But the predicted river level is far below some of the more significant floods there, such as June 21, 2003 when the river reached 20.8 feet.

The Southeast River Forecast Center in Georgia considers a river level of 15 feet or higher a major flood. The river usually falls as quickly as it rises. The forecast center expects the river to fall below the 11-foot flood level by 8 a.m. Monday and drop to 4.5 feet by Wednesday morning.

As for the rest of the Tampa Bay area, the weather service says the thunderstorms should mainly occur between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. today. But in Florida during the summer, you can't rule out some stray thunderstorms popping up about anytime.

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