Cape Canaveral building 'rain garden' park to fight flooding with plants
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A coastal community in Florida is fighting flooding with parks instead of pipes.
Work is underway on a "smart" rain garden in an area where Cape Canaveral streets have been totally flooded during storms.
The city says this new project uses the environment to fight flooding by diverting rainwater that usually collects on Taylor Avenue to new drains connected to the park.
Once it reaches the "rain garden," that’s when plants go to work.
"This is all about flooding. I’m like, 'Really!'" exclaimed Dave Clark, a Cape Canaveral resident who lives down the street from the park under construction.
What’s being built at the old Veterans Memorial Park near the library is a "smart rain garden" funded by the National Science Foundation.
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"We’re moving away from gray models that have been used in the past with traditional piping and whatnot and using nature itself to help us mitigate flooding," said Zachary Eichholz, who’s the chief resilience manager for the city.
The city is planting nearly 1000 native Florida plants in the park. The plants will absorb the water and filter out toxic nutrients that end up in the Indian River Lagoon.
"Yes, so plants are very good at treating water," said Eichholz.
People who live near the park are used to seeing flooded streets after storms.
Clark says flooding is something he’s "always worried about" living so close to the ocean.
Residents like Clark are less worried because the garden will remove excess water.
"Now, it has a capacity upwards of 150,000 gallons," said the resilience manager, noting how the park can hold much more water than before.
Water will be stored underground, and what’s going above ground will be something the community can use daily.
"Just the beauty it’s bringing is probably the biggest piece," Clark said he’s excited.
"Hopefully, the other coastal towns will fall into place," said Cape Canaveral snowbird Carolyn Halton.
Embry-Riddle drones are also monitoring the park’s progress, and even when it’s finished, they’ll continue to track if flooding improves in the area.
"We can see where the water is going to go, why it’s flooding these particular areas, and how to improve that," said drone pilot Tyler Deal.
The city says the park should be finished sometime this summer.