Heavy rains have caused local flooding in Polk and Pasco Counties. Here’s where you can get sandbags

Much of Tampa Bay is under a Flood Watch

According to the National Weather Service Tampa Bay, the Flood Watch continues through Saturday evening because showers and storms will continue.

A Flood Watch has been issued in Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando, Citrus, and Levy counties. The Flood Watch will begin Friday AM and continue through Sat evening as additional rounds of showers and storms will continue across the region due to the soggy weather pattern in place. #FLwx pic.twitter.com/oJLLXbmJdO

— NWS Tampa Bay (@NWSTampaBay) September 9, 2022

Flooding in Polk County

Heavy rains on Thursday and anticipated heavy rains on Friday and through part of the weekend have parts of Polk County, especially the North Winter Haven Chain of Lakes area, on alert for flooding.

Polk county is making sandbags available to residents (see below).

Flooding in Pasco County

There is also flooding in Pasco County.

An email from Pasco Media Relations & Communications asks drivers to use caution and to avoid flooded areas because of localized flooding.

Heavy rain is causing localized flooding in low-lying areas of Pasco County.

Drivers are being asked to avoid using Seven Springs Boulevard – south of State Road 54 and north of Perrine Ranch Road – as parts of the road are impassable due to flash flooding.

Roads can flood quickly during heavy downpours. We remind you to turn around when you encounter flooding in streets as your vehicle can become damaged or stranded. Floodwaters are often deeper than they look. Driving or walking through flooded roads can put you at serious risk of drowning.

– email from Pasco County

Here is information provided by Polk County about sandbags:

Sandbag Sites Open in Polk County

Bartow, Fla. (September 9, 2022) — Following a very dry summer, the rainy season has finally arrived in Central Florida. Areas of the county are extremely wet, which prompted the Southwest Florida Water Management District to release an Emergency Final Order in response to high rainfall and anticipated flooding in the North Winter Haven Chain of Lakes area.

Polk County is making sandbags available throughout the county at Roadway Maintenance Units today through Wednesday, September 14. Locations below will be open from 7 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. each day, including Sunday.

Sandbag site locations are:

• Mulberry – 900 NE 5^th St., Mulberry, (863) 519-4734
• Lakeland – 8970 N. Campbell Road, Lakeland (863) 815-6701
• Fort Meade – 1061 NE 9^th St., Fort Meade (863) 285-6588
• Frostproof – 350 County Road 630A, Frostproof (863) 635-7879
• Auburndale – 1701 Holt Road, Auburndale (863) 965-5524
• Dundee – 805 Dr. Martin Luther King St. SW, Dundee, (863) 421-3367
• Poinciana Park – corner of Lake Hatchineha Road and Marigold Ave.

A maximum of 10 sandbags will be provided to each household to help prevent water intrusion into the home.

Residents living in flood prone areas are encouraged to sandbag their homes. To protect against water damage, follow these simple sandbagging techniques. At the area where water can enter a structure:

• If not working on concrete, dig a small ditch just deep enough to go below ground level. The ditch should be back far enough from the entrance to allow room to place optional submersible (sump) pumps into the protected area. The edge of the visqueen should be placed in the ditch as a bottom layer.

• Place the first row of sandbags in ditch, fold visqueen over the top of first row, place a second row of bags on top, fold visqueen back over, place a third row of bags on top, and so on. This creates an “S” pattern with the visqueen.

Depending on the size of the barrier, submersible (sump) pumps can be used. The barrier will not completely stop water from entering the protected area; however, with the by properly placing bags, visqueen and sump pumps, water, in most cases, can be removed quickly.