Tampa Bay has seen the type of flooding Florence is bringing the Carolinas right now.
In the mid-1900s, major storms put entire parts of Tampa underwater when a dam along the Hillsborough River burst.
That led to the construction of the Tampa Bypass Canal and that waterway has made quite the difference.
When storms roll into Tampa Bay, Lysa Bozel holds her breath because knows her house, which backs up to the Hillsborough River, can be at risk.
“The water can come up pretty high,” Bozel said.
When she bought the property six years ago, Bozel said the original owner told her stories of how flood water would come right through the house.
“Yeah, we’re aware of the history,” she said. “They said that the water came all the way up and that they would jump out the window. There was a piece of glass where they would jump out and swim around in the water.”
Photos of the same property from the Tampa History Museum show the same house submerged by stormwater.
After seeing the Hillsborough dam fail in the 1930s 40s and 50s Army Corps of Engineers built the Tampa Bypass Canal which is six structures with about 15.5 miles of canals.
In recent weeks officials have been performing a 50-year assessment and said the waterway is still in good shape.
Acting like an enormous relief valve, “To help alleviate flooding on the lower Hillsborough River in the areas of Temple Terrace and Tampa,” Mike Bartlett, an SWFWMD Operations Manager said.
Officials said the bypass canal, which sends the water into Tampa’s McKay Bay, was built to withstand a 100-year storm.
During Hurricane Irma, it barely reached 25-percent capacity.
In the event of an emergency, the bypass canal can even be activated remotely to start diverting water out of the Hillsborough River and into McKay Bay.
“Well, I think it would be devastating for this area if we didn’t have something like that in place,” said Sarah Hoagland.
It’s a big comfort for people like Hoagland, who lives in a neighborhood downstream from the Hillsborough dam.
“Especially this time of the year,” she said, “Not knowing what the impact is going to be and how much water we could potentially see. So, yeah, it’s always a concern.”
Bozel said she’s glad too.
Bozel said images from the Carolinas remind her of those old images in Tampa, and the stories of so many people losing so much.
“We always have to keep an eye on it. Just to be safe. You just want to be cautious,” said Bozel, “But, the bypass has really helped us to be safe and make sure that things flow better. And we are really happy that we have it.”
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