Venice hears urgent calls to fix Flamingo Ditch as consultant updates study

A consultant presented a mid-project update Tuesday on the Flamingo Ditch feasibility study after residents described repeated flooding that destroyed homes and property in the Golden Beach neighborhood.

The study, led by Coastal Protection Engineering (CPE), aims to identify options that would reduce or prevent flooding in a low-lying bowl of land that drains to the Gulf. "It's a low‑lying depression in the earth that the water is flowing into and it's very hard to get the water out at least on natural drainage by gravity," CPE principal engineer Tom Piero said.

The update came after months of public reporting from residents who said flooding worsened during recent storms. Residents pushed the council and staff to apply quickly for federal and state resiliency grants. "If we had proper drainage and infrastructure, many homes would still be standing today," resident…