Emergency Management

The South Florida Water Management District prepares year-round to ensure operational readiness for hurricanes and other emergencies that could impact regional flood control. These activities include:

• The annual Hurricane Freddy exercise that features a full activation of the District’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC). Participation is District-wide and includes all levels of management.
• A monthly technical feasibility test of the equipment in the Emergency Operations Center.
• Monthly satellite phone tests between the District’s Water Operations Control Center, field stations and service centers.
• Conducting onsite tabletop exercises with Field Station Incident Command Team personnel throughout the year to test operational planning capabilities.
• Coordination of annual meeting for Emergency Coordination Officers with Florida's other water management districts, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and State EOC personnel.
• Participation by regional representatives throughout the year in county Local Mitigation Strategy committees and Community Rating System efforts.
• Supporting local jurisdictions with emergency modeling information to assist in both mitigation planning efforts, as well as response to flooding emergencies.
• Coordination before, during and after storms with local drainage districts to disseminate information.
   

Operations

Throughout the year, SFWMD Operations and Maintenance staff oversee approximately 2,100 miles of canals and 2,000 miles of levees/berms, 77 pump stations and more than 600 water control structures and 620 project culverts. With specialized expertise, they maintain all the equipment to ensure this vast water management system is ready to manage flood control during and after summer rainstorms, tropical storms or major hurricanes.

During times of disaster and emergency recovery, access to canals becomes extremely essential as recovery teams navigate through the canal system to perform emergency maintenance tasks. Field staff continually perform routine maintenance, repair and debris removal as well as keep rights-of-way clear to maintain access to canals.
 

Headquarter Facilities

SFWMD Facilities staff maintain critical functions vital to emergency storm response. Year-round tasks include checks and deployment of the following for headquarter buildings, including the Emergency Operations Center:

• Shutters, emergency generators and satellite phones
• Supplies, tools and portable gas cans for chainsaws
• Fleet vehicles and boat tie-down
• Diesel fuel
   

Map: Who to Contact for Localized Flooding

Local (secondary) canal systems in South Florida are maintained and operated by cities, counties and water control districts – also known as 298 districts for the chapter of Florida Statutes that outlines their responsibilities. These secondary canal systems receive water from neighborhoods and store excess water or move it to the regional flood control system managed by the South Florida Water Management District.

More than 100 water control districts and local governments operate secondary canal systems within the SFWMD's 16-county region. To see which entity is responsible for the secondary system where you live, type your address into the search bar on the map below. You can find contact information and more details in the Near Me box or by clicking directly on the map.

* NOTE TO MOBILE USERS: For a mobile-friendly version of this map, please click here.