Florida DUers -Why is Orlando flooding like this?

[malaise]

Please explain

[Warpy]

1. Partially because of the torrential rains

and mostly because so much of the city is built on reclaimed swamp, like much of residential Florida.

[malaise]

2. It's the mostly that is troubling

Damn!

[Warpy]

3. Jamaica has the Blue Mountains

Florida just has a few hills here and there, none higher than 350 feet. It's flat, very flat.

The flooding isn't all bad news, especially along the interior. It will help replenish the aquifer.

[malaise]

4. We have our swamp lands too

As we say here 'dawg nyam our suppa' (dog eat our supper) when the big earthquake comes. Portmore will dissolve like Port Royal did centuries ago.

[cwydro]

5. Heavy heavy rain.

We're getting drenched up here in NC.

Pouring, pelting rain all day, gusty winds. More expected tomorrow.

[Useless in FL]

6. We had a lot of rain prior to Irma...

Retention ponds and lakes were already full, even though they tried pumping water out prior to the event. Then we were on the east side of the eye and received a lot more rain.... There are a lot of low-lying areas where homes should never have been built .... but they allow builders to continue to build in these areas.

[janterry]

7. One problem is the development of the wetlands

Remember, the typography down here is a swamp - it's just been filled in and built over. We've tried to bend the environment to suit the needs of the people - and that's to our detriment - especially in a storm.

Here's a quote:

“Our wetlands help absorb and hold water,” said Angelique Bochnak, past president of the South Atlantic Chapter of the Society of Wetland Scientists and a former scientist with the St. Johns River Water Management District in northeast Florida. “The more developed the landscape is, the more runoff from rain. And there’s nowhere else to go but flooding without wetlands.”

https://theintercept.com/2017/09/09/florida-risks-more-irma-devastation-because-gov-rick-scott-lifted-wetland-protections/