‘This is an issue with which the City of Vernon has been dealing for some time’, said Vernon, Florida Mayor Tina Sloan on Wednesday, August 2, 2018, in reference to recent water overflow incidents in the Vernon city limits.
‘The Vernon public works crews are aware of the issues and contacted the Florida State Department of Environmental Protection on Tuesday, August 1, 2018’, adds Sloan, ‘and we are currently waiting on a response from the DEP as to what we can do’.
Recent torrential rains, significantly heavy even in an area with normally heavy rainfall, has caused many issues in Washington County, Florida, as well as in neighboring counties of Walton, Holmes, Jackson and Bay.
These issues range from washed-out non-paved roads to overflowing waterways, and the four-laning of Highway 79, currently ongoing, is designed to deal with some of these issues by alleviating and redirecting storm water runoff when that construction is completed.
The most significant issue at this time seems to be the potential for sewage line overflow from manholes, especially in proximity to the Holmes Creek estuaries.
‘The City of Vernon, Florida is continuing to monitor the situation, and when we are able to receive a definitive answer from the Florida State Department of Environmental Protection, we will know what our next step will be in dealing with the problem areas’, says Sloan.
