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The recent flooding on Marco Island was due to a number of atmospheric conditions all happening in not so perfect alignment for us.

On July 16 in the late morning there was an unusually high tide of approximately 3.4 feet above sea level. On that same day weather conditions placed four to eight inches of rain at the same time depending on where you lived.

As most long term Marco residents are aware there have been other occasions where high rainfall correlated at some point with a high tide. In the past seven years on at least two occasions we experienced high amounts of rainfall over a longer duration that crossed a high tide. On those two occasions we saw significant flooding all along Collier Blvd., Tallwood, Sixth Avenue, and other low lying areas.

Living on an island we are surrounded by water that absorbs our water runoff. The storm drains that lead into our canals is usually located above sea level allowing the runoff to take place.

A 3.4 foot high tide will place many of those drains completely under water. As a follow up some of the lessons we learned are:

It is important not to drive through standing water if you do not know the depth. A stalled out car will have a domino effect.

We are thankful to the many people that stayed in doors and did not go out on the road if they did not have to.

Many people practiced courteous driving habits. They drove through water slowly. However some did not and the waves probably caused damage to vehicles, property and houses.

Those in Public Works found drains clogged with grass clipping, yard debris, palm branches and plastic bags. The simple practice of ensuring yard and landscape are collected and removed will help.

We are often only as strong as our weakest link, the bridge closure was due to the flooding of Collier Blvd. near Yellowbird and arterial side roads. The alternate bridge at Goodland did work.

The storm drainage improvements to the new Collier Boulevard provided a greater underground capacity which resulted in drier roads even at the worst part of the storm. The same was true of storm drain improvements to Tallwood and other areas.

The Code Red system once again received very positive feedback as a communications link in keep you the general public informed. If you are not currently signed up please take the time to do on the city Web site (cityofmarcoisland.com).

The public cooperation was great. Even though it caused an inconvenience the majority of individuals understood the problem and cooperated with the police, firefighters and Public Works personnel that were directing traffic. Standing in the rain directing traffic is not easy.

The city was also fortunate in the cooperation of outside agencies such as Collier County Sheriff’s Office, Isles of Capri Fire Department, Collier County Emergency Management and Collier County Department of Transportation in helping to divert traffic to the SR92 bridge for the short time of inconvenience during the Jolley Bridge closure. As with other events in our city, our crews saw neighbor helping neighbor especially when cars became stranded in the water.

As the city we wish to thank the many individuals that we saw out there helping their neighbors during this event. We see this often on a day to day basis and events like this remind us of the community we are and the great people we serve.