Tractor trailers pulled up to Interlachen Park on Tuesday evening carrying pumps and pipes that will be used to drain floodwaters from Lake Bonny, relieving dozens of residents who have been flooded out of their homes following historic rainfall culminating with Hurricane Milton.
Florida Rep. Jennifer Canady, R-Lakeland, applauded and cheered and City Commissioner Mike Musick was on hand to welcome the workers.
“In recent days, it became clear that both the city and the county had done everything in their power to help residents experiencing significant flooding, especially those in hard-hit Lake Bonny,” said Canady, who has spent time with homeowners and also the state emergency operations director in Tallahassee as multiple officials coordinated between city, county, state and federal agencies.
Matt Westcott, deputy commander of the Army Corps’ Jacksonville District, said two industrial 12-inch pumps arrived on the shores of Lake Bonny about 8 p.m. Tuesday night. Crews were at work setting up pumps and piping to drain Hurricane Milton stormwater into Lake Parker.
Westcott said he personally took a call from the Southwest Florida Water Management District about noon on Tuesday asking the Army Corps for assistance to alleviate the flooding around Lake Bonny impacting several communities.
“We all quickly agreed on what the problem was here,” he said. “The challenge of the problem set was figuring out where we were going to put the water so it didn’t throw the problem onto somebody else.”
About one hour after the Army Corps was contacted, a joint call was arranged with Swiftmud, Polk County and Lakeland officials, Westcott said.
“It was a team effort to get here,” he said.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will use three industrial water pumps and 7,000 feet of piping to remove water from Lake Bonny and transfer it to Lake Parker. Officials with Swiftmud – and Polk County have agreed to allow Lake Bonny outflow to be discharged into the Peace River via Lake Parker and Lake Hancock.
The plan was to turn on one of the large industrial pumps when the first line of piping was complete late Wednesday afternoon. Once the pump is up and running, it has the capability of removing 4,000 cubic feet of water from Lake Bonny per second, Westcott said.
That’s nearly 30,000 gallons per second. Or, enough water to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool every 22 seconds.