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Deltona outlines flood fixes and adds sandbag machines ahead of hurricane season
Summary
City staff described recent stormwater projects — infiltration systems, buried emergency piping, enlarged culverts and rerouted drainage — and said the city bought two sandbag machines that can each produce about 1,500 bags per hour.
Doc Dougherty, Deltona city manager, opened the city manager’s report by emphasizing hurricane preparedness and said the city’s stormwater and public-works teams are finishing projects to reduce flooding risk. "As we approach hurricane season, keeping you informed and prepared is our top priority," he said.
Don Loveless, construction supervisor for the City of Deltona, described completed and recent stormwater work in multiple neighborhoods, including an infiltration system installed between Waycross and Matheson to reduce standing water; buried six-inch emergency lines to speed pump deployment; and enlarged culverts and retaining walls at several locations. "This system should take care of that. It will dry it out," Loveless said of the infiltration system.
Loveless described the buried piping on Catalina and work near Holland that he said will cut response time by about 75 percent because pumps can be hooked to lines already in the ground rather than laying temporary lines. He also said crews rerouted water away from Riverhead and Lake Windsor toward a new pump station near Slater to reduce washouts on Riverhead.
Jim Godfrey, stormwater maintenance supervisor, said the city purchased two sandbag machines and demonstrated one at Festival Park. "Our sandbag machine is able to produce 1,500 bags an hour so we can be more efficient and supply our residents with more sandbags at a quicker rate when the storm season hits," Godfrey said.
City staff framed these items as operational preparedness rather than new policy actions; no votes or formal approvals were reported during the presentation. Staff gave timelines and operational details for the projects and equipment in response to ongoing annual hurricane-season planning.
Officials said the physical work is complete or near-complete at the sites described and that equipment purchases have been made; they did not specify budget sources, total project costs, or the precise schedule for full system activation.
