The City of Miami Gardens lies in a flat, low-lying area of Miami-Dade County. The flood hazards we face include rainfall from tropical storms and other weather systems, hurricanes, and other heavy rain events. We also have many canals, lakes, rivers and other bodies of water in our City.
Groundwater
Our groundwater is also just below the ground surface. During the rainy season canals and lakes are frequently full of water, and the groundwater table is full and close to the surface.
Stormwater
When heavy rainfall occurs during this season, the stormwater runoff has nowhere to drain, leading to occasional localized flooding. During these events it is possible that man-made canals such as the C-8 and C-9 Canals could overtop their banks or otherwise get backed up (
view canal Real Time Water Data). This can cause localized flooding in those areas next to the canals.
This can also cause secondary canals and neighborhood drainage systems to back up, making the flooding problems worse. Past flood events such as Hurricane Irene (1999) and the No-Name storm of October 2000 left many areas of the City with flooded conditions for long periods of time, causing business disruptions, power losses and other negative impacts to the community.